Haitian customs officers are on strike after the kidnapping of five employees

The Haitian customs officials today began an indefinite work stoppage demanding the release of five members of the institution, kidnapped earlier this week.

Earlier this month, Roosevelt Réjouis, deputy director of the Business Advice Unit of the General Customs Administration, was kidnapped. Réjouis was arrested at Delmas 75 of this capital; however, days later he was released.

Although without official confirmation, Réjouis was to replace the current CEO of Customs, Romel Bell, subject to an investigation for alleged corruption and firearms trafficking, accusations that the official denied.

The customs officers of that Caribbean country will end the strike as soon as the 5 kidnapped employees are released.

This kidnapping takes place in the midst of the marked insecurity that plagues Haiti with the rise of armed gangs, although other voices interpret the case with political overtones.

“The committee deplores the claim of more than one and cannot accept, in such circumstances, that this despicable act be given a political overtone, like so many others already registered in our ranks, which we all condemn. The committee appeals to their humanism and invites them, instead, to show solidarity with the relatives of the hostages,” the customs officials said.

The kidnappings continue to rise in Haiti with more than 250 registered in the first quarter of the year, most occurred in the capital and its peripheral areas.

The phenomenon is an expression of increased insecurity that reached alarming levels last April when two powerful gangs clashed and resulted in the deaths of at least 188 people, including 92 civilians, according to a report.

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While the Haitian customs in the community of Cachiman Comun Belladere keep their doors closed, on the Dominican side they continue to operate normally, giving way to all kinds of vehicles and passersby, to enter their country and also allow them to enter through the Carrizal border crossing in the Comendador municipality, Elías Piña province.

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