"He is one with Haiti": the priest Michel Briand, kidnapped in the country to which he has dedicated his life

He saw the walls of his rectory collapse in the tragic earthquake of 2010. Before surviving, five years later, a gunshot assault in the streets of Port-au-Prince.

If some would have fled a more than difficult country, Michel Briand opted for reconstruction.

First a makeshift parish center, then that of his body hit by bullets, for a reason: to carry out his mission, which began more than thirty years ago in Haiti.

This 67-year-old Breton priest is however once again prevented from doing so.

On Sunday, he was kidnapped with a group of religious, near the capital.

Nicknames can sometimes be overused.

But according to those who know him well, Michel Briand is indeed the “priest of the poor”.

Since his arrival in Haiti thirty years ago, this Breton native of Messac, in Ille-et-Vilaine, has never ceased to live with the inhabitants of this country, a third of whom needs humanitarian aid. 'emergency.

“When you are a missionary in a country, you will see the reality of the people.

Michel Briand accompanies them with respect and generosity ”, assures Father Georgino Rameau, secretary general of the Society of Priests of Saint-Jacques to which the parish priest belongs, and whose headquarters are located in Guiclan (Finistère).

"While he almost left his skin there, he went back there"

Michel Briand met this society of missionaries present in Haiti for more than 150 years during his cooperation, in the years 1975. "He discovered his vocation at that time and became a priest in 1985 in Rennes", recalls the Father Georgino Rameau.

"He is one of the few to have gone as far as the priesthood", confirms Eric Chopin with a smile.

This journalist met Michel Briand at the Chantepie seminar, near Rennes.

He did not continue in the pious way and found Michel Briand once he had become an editor for the local newspaper Ouest-France.

“It was at the end of my career, I was in charge of religious news and I got in touch with him again.

I told myself that something was always happening in Haiti ”.

Michel Briand does not make him lie.

He has been hard at work for months to rebuild a school destroyed by the terrible earthquake of 2010. In a report, the weekly La Vie followed him in the field, in the heart of the slums of the Haitian capital.

"We have set up local committees which draw up lists and distribute aid", explained the parish priest.

“I really believe in the strength of the community, praised Michel Briand.

The wealth of Haitians is their capacity to resist.

Despite the misery, the cyclones, the violence, the earthquakes, they still have life in them ”.

But the reality of the danger that surrounds him comes to him regularly, as in 2015. As he comes out of a bank, Michel Briand is hit by two shots fired by a man who steals his satchel. flee with an accomplice on a motorcycle.

Seriously injured, he returned to France for his convalescence.

“He was repatriated and I met him.

I remember our discussions very well, his unwavering commitment.

When he almost left the skin there, he went back there.

I admire this loyalty ”, testifies Eric Chopin.

“He is so involved that he is one with this country, with its parishioners.

He is a priest who embodies his commitment materially, he has plenty of projects, ”he insists.

"He always got out"

Far from being irresponsible, Michel Briand "is a victim of general insecurity", continues Father Georgino Rameau.

Kidnappings for ransom have increased in recent months in Port-au-Prince and in the provinces, testifying to the growing hold of armed gangs on Haitian territory.

In March, the government declared a state of emergency for one month in certain neighborhoods of the capital and a region in order to re-establish “the authority of the state” in areas controlled by gangs.

These kidnappings affect both the richest inhabitants and the majority of the population, who live below the poverty line.

The situation would have started to erode the priest's unwavering energy, according to one of his relatives, who remained anonymous.

“He has always been completely devoted to Haiti, and very optimistic.

But much less for two years ”, assures this childhood friend, without expanding.

Despite the concern, many praise his “unshakeable” faith, like Eric Chopin.

“He has a sweetness in him, a very powerful inner strength.

He's going to get out of it, he always got out of it.