Florida missionary tells of ‘risky’ overnight rescue out of Haiti
In the middle of the night on Sunday, Miriam Cinotti left a remote commune in the south of Haiti and embarked on a five-hour drive to an undisclosed location that would lead to her escape from the Caribbean nation as it faced a violent upheaval.
The drive, from coast to coast, was “a little risky,” Cinotti said in an interview on Tuesday morning. But after eight days of being stranded in Haiti, Cinotti, a Christian missionary from Jacksonville, felt the unsanctioned rescue mission led by Project Dynamo, a nonprofit group, was her only way out.
“It was a process of waiting for the pickup to happen,” she said, “and it is what it is. You’re at the mercy of someone coming to rescue you, so you sit and wait.”
Cinotti is now in the Dominican Republic, a country that has become a landing spot for many of those trying to leave Haiti. She is waiting for Project Dynamo to rescue two other members of her group before heading back to Florida. When that rescue mission will be completed remains unclear.
“Our hope is to leave some time today or tonight,” she said.
U.S. citizens stranded in Haiti are increasingly resorting to private rescue missions – dangerous journeys without the support or often knowledge of the U.S. or Haitian governments – to leave the country as it devolves into a state of anarchy, with powerful gangs vying for control of the streets of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
Read more: Armed gangs attack Haiti’s wealthiest enclaves, leaving bodies on the streets
For years, the State Department has warned Americans not to travel to Haiti and urged those living in the country to depart. But a recent explosion in gang violence and deterioration of government control has made departures far more difficult, with nearby gunfire closing the international airport, and the neighboring Dominican Republic shutting the border to Haitian citizens, including those with dual nationality.
The State Department chartered a plane to fly U.S. citizens out of Cap-Haïtien this week. But government officials warned Americans that their travel to the northern coastal city would be perilous and taken at their own risk.
Those who were unable to fly out of their location, like Cinotti, resorted to private rescue missions like the ones conducted by Project Dynamo. Cinotti was rescued along with Linotte Joseph, the co-founder of Mission of Grace, a Christian organization based in Florida.
Bryan Stern, who leads Project Dynamo, a Tampa-based nonprofit group that specializes in bringing U.S. citizens home from conflict zones around the world, has been hesitant to share specifics about the group’s ongoing rescue missions.
“We don’t really get into our tactics on how we do stuff because people try to kill us all the time,” Stern said in an interview.
The group, which is funded through private donations, has been working in Haiti for six days and is using planes, boats and buses to evacuate about 40 Americans and citizens from allied countries. Out of security concerns, Stern said he would not confirm how many missions have been completed, how many people have been rescued, or where he is rescuing them from.
A big concern with disclosing the information is kidnappings, he said, noting that gangs in Haiti view kidnapping ransoms as a critical funding source.
“Americans are simply more valuable by the dollar,” Stern said. “That’s just the nature of it.”
U.S. Representative Cory Mills, a Florida Republican, on Monday said he also helped in the rescue of 15 Americans by helicopter, including Mitch Albom, the author of “Tuesdays with Morrie.”
Worried about Floridians’ safety in Haiti, Gov. Ron DeSantis last week launched an online portal that is meant to identify people who are in need of rescuing.
The portal has received “multiple submissions,” Bryan Griffin, a spokesman for the governor, said last week. He could not say what the state would do with the information yet, adding that they still have to “best assess and determine” how to respond.
Last year, DeSantis partnered with Project Dynamo to rescue Americans from Israel as the war with Hamas erupted. The state also worked with three other private vendors to conduct rescue flights from Israel.
Stern said the group is not partnering with Florida at this time. It is unclear whether the governor’s office is in touch with other private vendors to conduct future Haiti rescues.
