Dom Republic diplomat apparently kidnapped in Haiti

Adiplomat from the Dominican Republic apparently has been kidnapped in neighbouring Haiti, prompting Dominican authorities to call for his safe release.

The local newspaper, El Dia, reported yesterday that the government also had beefed up its military presence on the border, though officials did not immediately have any comment on that.

The Dominican government said in a weekend statement that Carlos Guillén Tatis, the agriculture counsellor at its embassy in Port-au-Prince, apparently was kidnapped on Friday while travelling towards a border crossing.

Ambassador Faruk Miguel Castillo said Guillén Tatis apparently was kidnapped in the Croix-des-Bouquets district of the Haitian capital. That area is a stronghold of the 400 Mawozo gang that kidnapped 17 people from a US missionary group in October and held most of them until December.

Dominican authorities said they had given Haitian police evidence from the diplomat’s mobile telephone that indicated he’d been kidnapped.