Franciscans call for safe release of friars kidnapped in Haiti

Published: 2006-07-21

ROME (CNS) -- The Franciscan order called for the safe release of two friars kidnapped in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Brother Cesar Humberto Flores, 50, of El Salvador and a young Haitian postulant were abducted July 20 by unidentified assailants. The Franciscan provincial for Haiti said the abductors had contacted him and were asking to be paid a ransom. A spokesman for the Franciscans in Haiti said the kidnappers were seeking a large ransom and the order was looking for a way to negotiate with them. In a July 21 statement, the minister general of the Order of Friars Minor, Franciscan Brother Jose Rodriguez Carballo, appealed to the kidnappers to free the men unharmed. Brother Flores is responsible for formation as head of the novices in the Port-au-Prince friary, located in one of the capital's poorest neighborhoods. No other information, such as details of the kidnapping or how much money the abductors were demanding, was made available to the Franciscan headquarters in Rome.

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