Armed men kidnap senior Haiti security official

Armed men have kidnapped James Boyard, a senior Haitian defense official and respected security expert, in one of the few parts of Port-au-Prince still considered relatively safe, a person with knowledge of the case said Saturday.

Boyard, the cabinet director of Haiti’s Defense Ministry, also serves as inspector general of the Haitian police. He is the highest-ranking official known to have been kidnapped in the gang-wracked Caribbean country in recent years.

A person familiar with the situation, who was not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed the kidnapping to The Associated Press. It was not clear who abducted Boyard or whether a ransom had been requested.

Local media reported that Boyard was seized Thursday in Bourdon, a neighborhood in the capital that has been viewed as relatively secure even as gangs have expanded their reach across Port-au-Prince. An estimated 70% of the capital is controlled by Viv Ansanm, a powerful gang coalition that the United States designated as a foreign terrorist organization in May last year.

Boyard is also a political scientist. He had been tasked with helping rebuild Haiti’s armed forces and had helped assess the Haitian National Police as part of efforts to implement reforms.

“A person of this rank clearly has a fairly important security detail,” said Diego Da Rin, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.

Da Rin said Boyard’s abduction may indicate the operation was planned in detail and could have depended on help from someone close to his security detail. He said kidnappings are increasingly taking place in Port-au-Prince neighborhoods once considered safe, with gang members sometimes wearing police uniforms and stopping drivers during fake operations.

Gangs have also been kidnapping people with dual nationalities and targeting public officials, Da Rin said. He said that pattern could mean gangs are seeking higher ransoms and may be trying to discourage authorities from attacking gang-controlled areas where kidnapping victims are being held.

Police have recently attacked Village de Dieu, an area controlled by the 5 Segond gang, which is led by Johnson Andre. Andre, best known as “Izo,” is considered one of Haiti’s most powerful gang leaders. Da Rin said gangs have taken some kidnapping victims to Village de Dieu.

High-profile kidnappings in Haiti in recent years have included Haitian journalists and international missionaries. At least 267 people, most of them men, were reported kidnapped from December 2025 to February 2026, according to a U.N. report. The report said 1,268 kidnappings were recorded in 2025, a nearly 40% decrease from the 2,058 reported the previous year.