Diplomat From Dominican Republic Freed 4 Days After Being Kidnapped In Haiti

Dominican Republic foreign minister Roberto Alvarez said Wednesday that a diplomat from the country had been freed four days after being kidnapped in Haiti.

Carlitin Guillen Tatis had been released “safe and sound,” Alvarez said, reported ABC News. He did not share further details about it. Alvarez tweeted that the counselor at the Dominican Embassy in Haiti was "released unharmed after 4 days of abduction." He thanked all those who "actively participated in his release.”

Last weekend, the Dominican government had said that the agriculture counselor at its embassy in Port-au-Prince, apparently was kidnapped on Friday while he was heading toward a border crossing. Tatis apparently was abducted in the Haitian capital’s Croix-des-Bouquets district, said Dominican Ambassador to Haiti Faruk Miguel Castillo. It has a stronghold of the 400 Mawozo gang that was responsible for the kidnapping of 17 people from a US missionary group last October. Most of them were held until December, reported The Washington Post.

According to The Haitian Times, the gang demanded for a $500,000 ransom. It is not clear if that ransom was paid to the gang.

The Haitian National Police had earlier shared that Germine “Yonyon” Joly, 400 Mawozo’s leader, was taken out of Haiti’s National Penitentiary and extradited to America on Tuesday. He reportedly faces US charges involving kidnapping, smuggling and import of weapons of war.

Azad Belfort, the director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, previously said that Haitian authorities were aware of the disappearance of the diplomat. But he shared that the Haitian government did not want to communicate anything on the matter. Prior to the announcement of Tatis' release, Belfort said that diplomacy is not done this way, and that any statement "could hinder the process." He said that they would publish a public statement on the subject, and that it was "necessary to wait for it.”

Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic was searching for the diplomat and reinforced surveillance on the border with Haiti on Tuesday. Last Sunday, the office of Dominican President Luis Abinader asked Haitian authorities for help in finding the diplomat. While Tatis was being held captive, his relatives were worried for him. Alvarez, via Castillo, had asked the Haitian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to open a probe to determine the circumstances surrounding Tatis' disappearance.

In March 2021, two Dominican technicians were also kidnapped in Port-au-Prince. They were abducted alongside their Haitian interpreter Junior “Ti Nèg” Augusma. They were freed after a week.