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A SPECIAL SECTION: Haiti, Since the January 12, 2010 Fierce Earthquake
Professor Yves A. Isidor conveys his thoughts or opinion to the U.S. news media (partial)
 jeunehaiti1: A must read publication   music logoListen to deposed dictator Aristide's preferred song:  Kapitalis Se Peche Motel or Capitalism Is a Mortal Sin 
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Posted Monday, December 12, 2011

Castel, Haiti's Central Bank President kidnapped for ransom

By Yves A. Isidor, Wehaitians.com Executive Editor

CAMBRIDGE, MA Dec. 12 - Haiti's Central Bank (French: Banque de la Republique d'Haiti or BRH) Charles Castel was kidnapped for ransom late last week in the nation's earthquake-ravaged capital city of Port-au-Prince, a government source, by way of a telephone, told Wehaitians.com late Sunday on the strict condition that even his first name not be included in this news article because he was not authorized to publicly speak about it and authorities have decided to continue to keep the latest terrorist act a secret for fear of sending the wrong message, that is Haiti is a very dangerous place, even its central bank president can easily be kidnapped and then murdered, to urgently needed foreign investors.
                              
charles castel
Charles Castel in an undated Wehaitians.com file photo.
                                
Mr. Castel's captors demanded US$300,000 as a condition for the president of Haiti's most important bank - one that was founded after the Caribbean nation gained its independence from France in 1804, and subsequently long thereafter continued to also serve as dictators' piggy bank or personal account, with no deposit in the first place - to regain his liberty. Otherwise, said the lethal bandits, "like many others before him he will violently be sent to the dark embrace of death."
                                    
Is Haiti in bad company?
 
international homicide rate
                                 
The latest case of kidnapping for ransom, the victim a state official in unmatched senior position of authority, came as the dirt-poor Caribbean small corner was preparing to welcome two internationally known personalities, United States' political and religious leader Louis Farrakhan and television talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, suggesting that it was further determined not to continue to walk in the dark, to borrow the words of American writer James Baldwin.    
                                        
anti-kidnapping 1
Haitians vented their anger during a march against kidnapping for ransom in an undated defend.ht photo, Wehaitians.com file.
                                     
The latest surge in the number of kidnapping cases for ransom came, said many experts interviewed for this story, after U.S. Drug Enforcement Agents (DEA), long with a satellite office in Haiti, not long ago became more aggressive in their pursuit of drug lords and as a result the latter could no longer use the very poor nation as a transshipment point, with the U.S. as their ultimate and very lucrative market. 

One of the drug kingpings is Jean-Claude Louis-Jean (tall, light-skinned) who was born and grew up in the Caribbean small piece of land part of Les Anglais (southwestern). The fugitive from justice that he is again, too, after escaping for a second time from Haiti's national penitentiary immediately after the January 12, 2010 major earthquake, with the help of a gang one of his younger brothers, Bob, is said to be the supreme commander or chief of, Mr. Louis-Jean's whereabouts remain unknown since he was first reported to have been kidnapped about six weeks ago. 
 
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  • How a police chief also helped turn Haiti into a narco-state
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