Following the defection of members of the Haitian delegation participating in the United States Special Olympics in Florida last week, including an athlete (Anderson Petit-Frère (football) with an intellectual disability) and 6 delegates https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36904-haiti-flash-a-7th-member-of-the-haitian-delegation-participating-in-the-united-states-special-olympics-is-missing.html , Herwill Gaspar, the Consul of Haiti in Orlando satisfied with the harvest of medals by Haiti https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36899-haiti-special-olympics-usa-games-2022-haiti-wins-11-medals.html deplored that 7 members of the Haitian delegation did not return to Haiti and are the subject of a search notice for missing persons.

"I met personally with the Special Olympics Committee last Friday and we discussed the situation," said Gaspar, recalling that this was not the first time that Haiti participated in the Special Olympics, but that it was "the first time that such an incident occurred" specifying that all the delegates from Haiti, with the exception of the 7 missing, returned to Haiti on Sunday.

"We can't talk too much about the situation because there is an ongoing investigation, we are working with the US Government and also with Special Olympics to find out exactly what happened, what exactly the situation is and to get more information on the situation" however, Consul Gaspar indicated that the investigation was progressing and several tracks were being followed, which the investigators do not want to make public at this time.

Despite this unfortunate incident which further tarnished the image of Haiti, the Consul declared "The next Special Olympics next year will take place in Germany and we hope that Haiti will be there again."

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36904-haiti-flash-a-7th-member-of-the-haitian-delegation-participating-in-the-united-states-special-olympics-is-missing.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36858-haiti-flash-6-members-of-the-haitian-delegation-missing-at-the-special-olympics-florida.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36899-haiti-special-olympics-usa-games-2022-haiti-wins-11-medals.html

S/ HaitiLibre