Police find body of Haitian kidnapped during post-quake reconstruction effort

Haitian relief worker found dead after abduction

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A Haitian man kidnapped while working with a U.S.-based development foundation was found dead on Saturday, the group said.

The driver for the Pan-American Development Foundation was kidnapped Monday along with a British contractor. The contractor was released after four days and is now assisting authorities with the investigation.

“We are in shock by the outcome of this terrible kidnapping,” executive director John Sanbrailo said in a news release. “We want to be sure that justice is served.”

The Haitian national had been employed with the development group for several years. He was driving the recently arrived contractor in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville when they were abducted. The area is home to many foreigners and upper-class Haitians as well as thousands of impoverished people who live in its hillside slums.

The victims’ names were not released. PADF spokesman Michael Zamba said neither the time nor cause of death have been established by police.

U.N. police could not immediately be reached for comment. A Haitian police spokesman declined to comment on the case.

Kidnappings had been on the decline in Haiti before the earthquake but appear to be spiking again. Foreign aid workers, construction teams, journalists and others are streaming in from overseas while criminals who escaped from Haiti’s damaged prison re-establish themselves.

As with other recent kidnappings, especially those of foreigners, news of the dual abduction sent organizations working in Haiti’s post-quake reconstruction scrambling to review their security policies. Many groups are starting work in the impoverished Caribbean nation for the first time.

The Pan-American Development Foundation has worked in Haiti for three decades. Most of its 150 employees in the country are Haitian nationals.