Close sources claimed that his relatives paid a ransom, although they did not specify the amount, according to the digital platform Haiti 24.

Dicette’s kidnapping sparked intense protests in southern Port-au-Prince, and limited access from the capital to the country’s southern departments in recent days.

Protesters blocked National Route 2, the only road connecting this city with another five provinces, and barricaded themselves with burning tires. The tense situation even endangered patients at the Pestel hospital who were to be transferred to Port-au-Prince.

Pierre Esperance, director of the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights, said that Dicette’s kidnapping was political, as it occurred shortly after the victim refused to promote the constitutional referendum boosted by the government.

Esperance blamed gangs presumably allied with the government for committing these acts against those opposed to the authorities.

Kidnappings in Haiti rose threefold in April compared to the previous month, and since the beginning of the year, the Center for Analysis and Research on Human Rights has reported almost 250 cases of this type.

The government insisted this week that the kidnappings are political, in the face of the coming constitutional referendum and general elections scheduled for June and September, respectively, and blamed its opponents for financing the armed gangs.

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