Philippine Daily Inquirer Digital Edition

HAITI GANG SEEKS $17M FOR KIDNAPPED MISSIONARIES

A Haitian gang that kidnapped a group of American and Canadian missionaries is asking for $17 million—or $1 million each—to release them, according to a top Haitian official.

Justice Minister Liszt Quitel said talks were under way with kidnappers to seek the release of the missionaries abducted over the weekend outside the capital, Port-au-Prince, by a gang called 400 Mawozo.

The minister confirmed the ransom fee. “They asked for $1 million per person.”

FBI, police

CNN reported earlier on Tuesday the kidnappers first called Christian Aid Ministries—the group to which the victims belonged—on Saturday and immediately conveyed the price tag for the missionaries’ release. The FBI and Haitian police were advising the group in negotiations, the minister said.

Among the 16 Americans and one Canadian are five children, including an 8-month-old baby, the missionary organization said. They were abducted in an area called Croix-des-Bouquets, about 13 kilometers outside the capital, which is dominated by the 400 Mawozo gang.

The US government is “relentlessly focused” on the kidnapping and in constant communication with Haitian police and the missionaries’ church, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told journalists after meeting with that country’s president and foreign minister.

“Unfortunately, this is also indicative of a much larger problem and that is a security situation that is quite simply unsustainable,” Blinken said, referring to gangs that he said control parts of Port-au-Prince.

The FBI said on Monday that it is part of a US government effort to get the Americans involved to safety.

More brazen

Kidnappings have become more brazen and commonplace in Haiti amid a growing political and economic crisis, with at least 628 incidents in the first nine months of 2021 alone, according to a report by the Haitian nonprofit Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights.

Haitians mounted a nationwide strike on Monday to protest gang crime and kidnappings, which have been on the rise for years and have worsened since the July assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

WORLD

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2021-10-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

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Philippine Daily Inquirer