Kidnappings in Haiti

Today's Haiti is a complete mess story has been brought to you in part by the Miami Herald and the Associated Press.

An average of four people are kidnapped each day by politically aligned street gangs, drug traffickers, crooked police and criminal deportees from the United States, officials say.

...The kidnappings are the latest trend in relentless violence that one U.N. official called "an urban war" to destabilize Haiti ahead of fall elections aimed at filling a power vacuum after a revolt toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide last year.

At least 130 people were kidnapped in the capital of Port-au-Prince in April, a big jump over previous months, U.N. officials have said. Precise statistics were not available for the previous months, or for May and June.

The victims range from wealthy business owners pulled out of luxury vehicles on busy streets to working-class Haitians snatched from poor neighborhoods and held for a few hundred dollars.

Foreigners also are targets.