August 5, 2025
A former Haitian Senator was arrested for allegedly financing gang activity.
Police in Haiti have arrested Nenel Cassy, a former senator accused of conspiring against the state by financing criminal organizations.
Heavily armed guards wearing ski masks arrested Cassy on Aug. 2, while he was dining at a restaurant in Port-au-Prince’s wealthy district, Petionville, NBC News reports. His arrest follows months of allegations from Haitian police, who claim he supported gang members involved in a deadly February assault on Kenscoff, a community located about six miles outside the capital and home to many of Haiti’s elite.
Kenscoff had largely remained untouched as the government grapples with losing control of various neighborhoods and villages to gangs. But since February, the area has become a new target, with gangs pushing to claim even more territory from the Haitian government.
In 2023, the U.S. State Department designated Cassy as a corrupt actor. Shortly after his arrest, armed men kidnapped nine staff members from an orphanage in Kenscoff around 2 a.m., according to Mayor Massillon Jean. Among those taken was a foreign national whose citizenship has not yet been confirmed. The orphanage, operated by Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH), an international charity with offices in Mexico and France, provides shelter for approximately 240 children.
NPH has said that seven staff members and one youth were taken, with one of the taken staff members being a foreign national. In response, the organization announced it will temporarily close the two hospitals it operates in Haiti until those taken from the orphanage are safely returned.
The latest attack adds to the escalating wave of gang violence gripping the nation. According to the United Nations, gangs now control at least 85% of Haiti’s capital, with previously peaceful communities increasingly falling under threat.
The United Nations reports that over 5,600 people lost their lives in Haiti last year, with gang violence displacing more than 1 million people in recent years. Between April and June of this year, 185 kidnappings were recorded, part of what the UN describes as a tactic used by gangs to “subjugate” residents in the areas they control.
