A Senator is kidnapped, then escapes

The kidnapping scourge that has plagued Haiti reached a new peak this week with not only the kidnapping of some 20 schoolchildren (nine of whom were subsequently freed) but also the kidnapping Friday night and escape of Haitian senator Andris Riché, who represent the Organisation du Peuple en Lutte (OPL) for the Grand Anse department. Riché was kidnapped off the capital's Route Nationale #1 near the Cité Soleil bidonville, reports said, and bore signs of grave ill-treatment by his captors. Two others kidnapped with Riché are said to remain missing. With the Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haïti (MINUSTAH) presence in Haiti now going on for three years, one wonders what if any plan the U.N. has to address this spiraling violence and insecurity, which plagues no sector in Haiti so much as it does the poor.