The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced this Saturday the release of 13 people kidnapped last Sunday in Haiti, six minors and seven women, during the massacre carried out by an armed gang in the community of Kenscoff, an attack that left at least 47 dead and nearly fifty people held captive.
The massacre, in which more than 20 people were executed while taking shelter in a church, was claimed by one of the most feared criminals in Haiti, Johnson André, alias 'Izo 2', who warned through a video posted on social media that the hostages will be killed if the director of the National Police of Haiti, Vladimir Paraison, dares to take any kind of retaliation.
Among those released are three babies under two years old, a seven-year-old boy, and two teenagers, who are receiving medical attention after their rescue, an operation in which local leaders and UNICEF staff have intervened.
In any case, and as reminded by the deputy representative of UNICEF in Haiti, Yannig Dussart, "the kidnapping in Kenscoff was not an isolated incident, but another clear reminder of the magnitude and frequency of attacks against children throughout the country."
The security situation in Haiti continues to be dramatic five years after the assassination of former president Jovenel Moise in 2021. More than 1,400 people have died between April and June 2026 in Haiti, victims of violence unleashed by gangs that, as the United Nations warned this Wednesday, is "geographically spreading" across the country at a time when authorities are intensifying their campaign against them in Port-au-Prince, the capital.
In total, more than 3,000 people have died in the country due to violence since the beginning of the year, counting the 1,642 dead from January to March 2026.