3 of 7 Catholic Clergy Members Kidnapped in Haiti Are Released

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI - Three of seven Catholic clergy who were kidnapped in Haiti earlier this month have been released, a church spokesman told AFP on Thursday, as the island nation grapples with a rise in violence and an ongoing political crisis.

A total of 10 people were abducted in Croix-des-Bouquets, a town northeast of the capital Port-au-Prince, in mid-April, including the seven clergy — five of them Haitian, as well as two French citizens, a priest and a nun. Father Loudger Mazile, spokesman for the Bishop's Conference for the island nation, said "the French were not released. There were no lay people among those released." "Three of the seven clergy kidnapped on April 11 were released," he told AFP.