(NewsReady.com) – Haiti has experienced tremendous upheaval in the last couple of years since assassins killed President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. The country was dangerous before that as well, but the level of violence has increased since the assassination. An American and her daughter were recently kidnapped in the small island nation, and their fates are uncertain.
On July 27, Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter were kidnapped from the El Roi Haiti campus, a humanitarian group focused on faith. Dorsainvil is from New Hampshire and married to the director of the organization. The child kidnapped is their daughter.
In a statement two days after the kidnapping, El Roi confirmed the mother and daughter were taken from their clinic near the capital, Port au Prince. They said she’s “a deeply compassionate and loving person” who considered the island her home. The statement said that she has worked hard at a clinic and a school to help the people in the community “in the name of Jesus.”
The organization pleaded with people to avoid spreading social media rumors about the kidnapping “in order to protect Alix and her child during this time.”
The US State Department told The New York Times that it was aware of the “kidnapping of two U.S. citizens in Haiti.” An official went on to say they were going to work with their Haitian counterparts on the matter and would not be commenting on it any further.
According to witnesses, armed gunmen burst into the clinic where Dorsainvil was providing medical care to people and kidnapped her. They have demanded $1 million in ransom. Renata Segura, a deputy director for the International Crisis Group, told The Associated Press that the kidnapping will have a “chilling impact on the work that” aid groups are doing in the country, and now people will think “twice before returning to those communities.”
The community has held protests demanding the kidnappers release the woman and her child.
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