Director of Haiti hospital says patients held hostage by gang rescued by police

Hospital director Jose Ulysse said Wednesday evening that hundreds of children, newborns, and women had been rescued by police after being taken hostage by a gang. Earlier in the day, Ulysse took to social media begging for help after he said the assailants had kidnapped several hostages at the Fontaine Hospital Center in Port-au-Prince. He later said Haiti’s National Police arrived and evacuated 40 children and 70 patients to a safer part of the city. That number included children on oxygen, according to Ulysse. It is unclear why the gang took the hostages.

Is this sort of thing common? Haiti has increasingly struggled with gang violence and unrest since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Last month, Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry and other top officials asked the U.N. for military help to curb the violence. The U.S. State Department advises U.S. citizens not to travel to Haiti.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Muncy’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about one missionary choosing to stay in Haiti.