Tuesday, January 24 in the morning, armed individuals kidnapped inside his home in Thomassin 32, the former Minister of National Education, Pierre Buteau, President of the Haitian Society of History, Geography and Geology.

Reacting to this kidnapping, the Rectorate of the State University of Haiti writes in a note :

"The Rectorate of the State University of Haiti (UEH) learned with great emotion mixed with frustration and indignation the news of the kidnapping followed by kidnapping of Professor Pierre Buteau, President of the Society Haitian in History, Geography and Geology and former Dean of the Institute of African Studies and Research in Haiti.

A highly respected teacher at the UEH for more than twenty years, a renowned historian, Professor Pierre Buteau was known for his generosity, his integrity, his vast culture and his sense of academic excellence. He has held important positions, including that of Minister of National Education; of Youth and Sports and was also Vice-President of the National Slave Route Committee.

The Rectorate denounces and condemns with the utmost rigor this umpteenth kidnapping of a member of the university community and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.

The Rectorate supports the families of Professor Buteau, the entire university community and that of IERAH/ISERSS in particular.

The Rectorate regrets that organized crime, the trivialization of life and practices of deprivation of freedoms have become the norm in the country, under the helpless gaze of the authorities concerned.

The Rectorate believes that the time has come for a real leap forward on the part of the living forces of the nation in order to stop this descent into hell and to stop this ordeal that the population lives practically delivered to itself."

IH/ iciHaiti