The kidnapping of Haiti’s National Security Director, Jean-Marie Paul, in Port-au-Prince yesterday marks a devastating strategic pivot for organised crime syndicates operating in the Caribbean’s most fragile state. This is not merely a criminal act. It is a direct assault on the residual state capacity that international partners have been trying to rebuild. The United Kingdom’s call for an emergency United Nations Security Council session is the correct initial response, but it underscores a fundamental threat vector: the complete absence of secure governance in Haiti.
Paul was taken from a government convoy near the capital’s airport, a location that should have been under maximum security. The fact that heavily armed gangs could execute this operation suggests either an intelligence failure of catastrophic proportions or a deliberate inside breach. Either way, this represents a strategic failure for the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support mission, which has been on the ground since June 2024 but has failed to secure key infrastructure.
Let us examine the hardware and logistics. The gangs controlling Port-au-Prince – the ‘G9’ coalition and its rivals – have access to assault rifles, heavy machine guns, and even drones. They operate with near-impunity because the Haitian National Police lacks armoured vehicles, secure communications, and basic intelligence fusion capabilities. The UK’s proposal for an emergency UN session must go beyond rhetoric. It must deliver a concrete logistics package: encrypted radios, surveillance drones, and a robust quick-reaction force. Without that, Paul will be executed or ransomed, and the signal to other criminal networks across Latin America will be devastating.
This kidnapping is a chess move by hostile non-state actors to test the will of the international community. The UK’s language of ‘urgent intervention’ is welcome, but words are cheap. What we need is a strategic pivot: a clear chain of command for the MSS mission, a dedicated intelligence cell at the UN level, and a willingness to use force to retake the airport and main roads. If the international community hesitates, Haiti will become a full-fledged narco-state, and the threat vector will expand to the Dominican Republic and beyond.
The intelligence failure here is staggering. Paul’s itinerary was clearly compromised. This points to a mole within the security apparatus or a communications intercept by the gangs. The UK and its allies must immediately deploy technical surveillance teams to Port-au-Prince to scrub the networks. But the deeper problem is strategic: the West has treated Haiti as a humanitarian crisis when it is fundamentally a security crisis. You cannot build schools or hospitals when armed groups control the streets.
The stakes are existential for the Haitian state. If the UK’s UN initiative does not result in a mandate for kinetic action within 48 hours, we will see a cascade effect: more kidnappings of officials, the collapse of the transitional council, and a mass exodus that will destabilise the entire Caribbean basin. This is not hyperbole. This is the cold analysis of threat vectors. The chessboard is set. The UK and its allies must move now or lose the board entirely.
