As Haiti continues to fall deeper into an abyss of anarchy and chaos, the impoverished island-nation has surpassed the war-torn country of Colombia as the new kidnapping capital of the hemisphere?an infamous distinction. Although the global community has focused their collective attention sporadically upon Haiti, few individuals are aware of the extent to which this country is imploding. At this point, it is difficult to tell who, if anyone, has taken charge in Haiti. It is beginning to appear that the failed state is being run by roving bands of criminal elements, consisting of drug traffickers, violent mobsters, corrupt police, and notoriously brutal Haitian gangs. The new capital is effectively the Port-Au-Prince slum of Cit? Soleil, where criminal enterprises run rampant, and gangs have installed a de facto state of control over the area. Cit? Soleil is the wild west of Haiti?so dangerous in fact that neither UN peacekeepers nor Haitian police dare enter.

The nefarious members of Haiti’s criminal enterprises have turned to kidnapping for ransom as a means of financing their social and economic needs. However, more frightening are the cases of average Haitian citizens conducting kidnappings for ransom in order to maintain an adequate level of subsistence. Impoverished and lacking any means of employment, Haitians are increasingly kidnapping middle-class and working-class individuals in an attempt to extract a meager reward from the hostage’s relatives. The haphazard manner in which the kidnappings are perpetrated are amateurish compared to those perpetrated by experienced Colombian guerrillas; however, they continue to represent a clear and present danger to the stability of the country and the hostages alike.