Haiti's defense chief of staff James Boyard abducted in rare high-level kidnapping, exposing capital's security collapse

The abduction

Gunmen kidnapped James Boyard on Thursday in Bourdon, a district of Port-au-Prince long considered one of the capital's few relatively safe pockets. According to the Haitian police, a gang leader named Christ-Roi Chéry, known as Chrisla, who heads the Ti Bwa gang, is believed responsible. The Ti Bwa group, under European Union sanctions, controls local populations through illegal tolls and extortion.

A person familiar with the case told The New York Times that a ransom had been requested, though the Associated Press reported it was not clear whether a ransom demand was made. Accounts diverge on whether family members were abducted: the Times said Boyard's wife and his six-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen, were also taken; Radio France Internationale mentioned that his son was with him and was seized. The Associated Press did not report any family involvement.

“A person of this rank clearly has a fairly important security detail. The abduction possibly suggests the kidnapping was planned with great detail and might have depended on the collaboration of someone close to his security detail.”

Who is James Boyard?

Boyard, a political scientist and professor at the State University of Haiti, wore several hats in the country's security apparatus. He served as inspector general of Haiti's police and was tasked with helping rebuild the armed forces and implementing reforms inside the National Police. He had recently become chief of staff to Mario Andrésol, the newly appointed Minister of Defense, and authored two books on security issues.

A capital under gang control

An estimated 70 percent of Port-au-Prince is dominated by the powerful gang coalition Viv Ansanm, which the United States designated as a foreign terrorist organization in May 2025. The group's reach has hollowed out entire neighborhoods and forced the airport to close for months at a time. Gangs increasingly operate in areas once regarded as safe, sometimes donning police uniforms and staging fake checkpoints to stop and abduct drivers.

Kidnappings have become a daily reality. The United Nations reported at least 267 abductions between December 2025 and February 2026, mostly of men. The New York Times put the total for last year at 647 people taken, while the Associated Press cited a separate UN figure of 1,268 kidnappings in 2025. High-profile victims have included journalists, international missionaries, and even five UNICEF employees held for three weeks last year.

A country in protracted crisis

Haiti has spiraled deeper into violence since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. Armed groups control highways, ports and swaths of territory, preventing the organization of elections that had been penciled in for later this summer. Nearly 1.5 million people have been displaced and more than 16,000 killed since 2022, according to the UN. An international gang suppression unit, supported by Washington, aims to grow to 5,500 soldiers from multiple nations, but the steady violence has made any timeline for a return to order uncertain.