Haiti education official kidnapped as police boost security amid election preparations

Haitian police are searching for a senior Education Ministry official who was kidnapped over the weekend as authorities continue efforts to combat escalating gang violence while preparing for the country's first elections in a decade.

Police said Ecclésiaste Thélémaque, chief of staff to the minister of national education, was abducted on Friday while returning home. Authorities said the kidnappers had not made any ransom demand as of the weekend.

In a separate incident on Saturday, businessman Clifford Handal and his father escaped an apparent kidnapping attempt in the Delmas 33 area near Peace Hospital.

According to police, an armored vehicle carrying the two men came under repeated gunfire from a group of heavily armed assailants, thwarting the attempted abduction.

The incidents come as criminal gangs continue to control large sections of the capital, Port-au-Prince, prompting the Haitian National Police (PNH) to implement additional security measures across the country.

As part of those efforts, the Nippes Departmental Directorate announced the deployment of 30 newly graduated police officers from the PNH's 36th graduating class. The officers have been assigned to police stations requiring additional personnel.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé has reaffirmed his government's commitment to creating the security, institutional and logistical conditions needed to hold Haiti's first elections since 2016.

Speaking during a high-level strategic session on implementing the country's electoral decree, Fils-Aimé said the government would provide the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) with the resources needed to carry out its constitutional mandate.

The meeting, held under the theme "The Involvement of the Public Administration in the Application of the Electoral Decree," brought together government ministers, senior public officials, CEP President Jacques Desrosiers, representatives of the national security forces, and international partners supporting Haiti's democratic process.

Also attending was Carlos Ruiz Massieu, the United Nations secretary-general's special representative for Haiti, who reiterated the UN's support for the country's efforts to organize elections.

The Haitian government said the initiative reflects its determination to coordinate the work of state institutions in support of the CEP and establish the conditions necessary for free, credible, and transparent elections.

In his address, Fils-Aimé stressed that while the CEP has constitutional responsibility for organizing elections, the process requires the commitment of all state institutions.

"We understand that organizing elections, although entrusted to the CEP, represents a mission of national importance that demands the firm, coordinated, and responsible commitment of the entire state," he said.

"Democracy is not built in isolation; it is the collective work of a people and its institutions, united around a common ambition: to rebuild national trust and guarantee the sovereign expression of the Haitian people."

The prime minister urged all stakeholders to approach the electoral process with responsibility, dedication, and patriotism to pave the way for free, transparent, inclusive, and credible elections capable of ushering in a new chapter for the country.