Explosion of kidnappings and gang warfare in Haiti

Three people a day are being kidnapped in Haiti – more than double the rate in 2021 – as hundreds of armed gangs vie for control of the Caribbean country.

Violence is escalating, with gangs dismembering bodies, beheading rivals, raping women, and killing minors accused of being informants.

The president’s assassination one year ago ushered in a new wave of terror and the country remains in a political gridlock with elections delayed indefinitely.

Homes have been burnt to the ground with residents still inside, hospitals have been forced to close as doctors are bundled into vans during their commute, and parents have stopped sending their children to school.

Over the past year, armed gangs have enforced major roadblocks, cutting off access to food and isolating 3.8 million people living in the south.

Haiti already had one of the highest levels of hunger in the world, with 4.5 million experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity.

Now, the World Food Programme has warned that deteriorating security and rising costs will push thousands more into desperate situations.

Haiti, it said, has become lost in the noise.

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Video produced by Harriet Barber, for Telegraph Global Health