Kidnappers in Haiti release US nurse and her young daughter nearly 2 weeks after their abduction

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Kidnappers in Haiti released a U.S. nurse and her daughter Wednesday, nearly two weeks after they were snatched at gunpoint from the campus of a Christian-run school near Port-au-Prince, underscoring the severe security risks for visitors to a capital city largely controlled by gangs.

The July 27 abduction of Alix Dorsainvil and her child happened the very day the U.S. State Department warned U.S. citizens to leave “as soon as possible” and ordered the departure of nonemergency U.S. government personnel from Haiti because of security concerns. The country remains under a U.S. “do not travel” advisory.

In the days following the kidnapping, El Roi Haiti, the Christian group founded by Dorsainvil’s husband, asked people to pray and said it was working on their safe return.

Hope waned among some. Gang warfare has increasingly plagued Haiti since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Gang members regularly kill, rape and hold residents for ransom. Some are held for months. A local nonprofit has documented 539 kidnappings since January, a significant rise over previous years for the country of more than 11 million people.

On Wednesday, El Roi Haiti confirmed the New Hampshire mother and daughter’s safe release “with a heart of gratitude and immense joy.” The U.S. State Department issued a statement thanking its Haitian and U.S. interagency partners for facilitating the release. Neither gave any further details, including whether a ransom was paid.

“We have no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas,” the department said. “As you can imagine, these individuals have been through a very difficult ordeal, both physically and mentally.”