Friday January 19, 2024, early in the morning, armed individuals intercepted a mini-bus on Avenue du Chili, in downtown Port-au-Prince. They got on board and at gunpoint they took all the passengers hostage (6 nuns, and a young woman who accompanied them) plus the driver, then headed with their hostages towards the alley Alert according to testimonies.

The nuns who belong to the congregation of the Sisters of Sainte-Anne went to the university.

Reacting to this kidnapping, the Haitian Conference of Religious in a note, said it learned with great emotion the sad news "[...] These kidnappings fill the consecrated people of Haiti and souls of good will with sadness and fear [...]" inviting all Christians in Haiti to make a chain of prayer of supplication to God "May the Spirit of strength be given to the sisters of Ste-Anne in order to find a way out of this situation [...]"

According to “Vatican news”, the kidnapping was strongly denounced by the Bishop of Anse-à-Veau and Miragoâne Mgr. Pierre-André Dumas who condemned "[...] with vigor and firmness this final odious and barbaric act which does not even respect the dignity of these consecrated women who give themselves wholeheartedly to God to educate and train the young, the most poor and vulnerable in our society."

Mgr. Dumas calls for the release of the hostages and says he is ready to "become a hostage in their place."

For the moment, no information on the identity of the victims or a ransom demand has been made public.

HL/ HaitiLibre