Abducted Haitian relief worker found dead

The practice of kidnapping has returned to Haiti as one relief worker was found dead on Saturday. A driver for Pan-American Development Foundation was abducted along with a developer from Britain. The developer was returned safely last week but the Haitian national relief driver was not.

From the Washington Post, writer Jonathan Katz gives us the details about the crime.

"We are in shock by the outcome of this terrible kidnapping," executive director John Sanbrailo said in a news release. "We want to be sure that justice is served."

The Haitian national had been employed with the development group for several years. He was driving the recently arrived contractor in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville when they were abducted. The area is home to many foreigners and upper-class Haitians as well as thousands of impoverished people who live in its hillside slums.

The victims' names were not released. PADF spokesman Michael Zamba said neither the time nor cause of death have been established by police.

U.N. police could not immediately be reached for comment. A Haitian police spokesman declined to comment on the case.

Kidnappings had been on the decline in Haiti before the earthquake but appear to be spiking again. Foreign aid workers, construction teams, journalists and others are streaming in from overseas while criminals who escaped from Haiti's damaged prison re-establish themselves.