Haitian authorities have blamed the kidnapping of a group of US missionaries on a criminal gang called 400 Mawozo, which has a reputation for kidnapping, extorting and stealing vehicles in one of the most humble areas of the country.
The FBI investigates the disappearance of 16 religious Americans and a Canadian;
It involves seven women, five men and five minors (the youngest, 2 years old).
They are part of the Christian organization Aid Ministries, based in Ohio, and had traveled to the island to visit an orphanage.
A protester calls on the government of the late President Jovenel Moïse to stop supporting the country's criminal gangs, in an image taken on December 10, 2020.Dieu Nalio Chery / AP
The name of 400 Mawozo comes from Creole and comes to mean
400 inexperienced men
.
The criminal gang controls, according to local authorities, the area of Croix-des-Bouquets, an area that includes Ganthier, the community where the Christian group was kidnapped on Saturday east of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
In the last three years
it has been strengthened and has incorporated members to add 150 members
, according to sources cited by CNN.
He is blamed for the abduction of five priests and two nuns in April, according to The Associated Press news agency.
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The Haitian police published an advertisement almost a year ago announcing the search for the alleged leader of 400 Mawozo, Wilson Joseph, for
murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, car theft and hijacking of trucks with goods
.
Wilson is known as
Lanmò Sanjou
, which in Creole means "death does not know what day is coming."
The second in command is Joly
Yonyon
Germine, who is
currently in prison
and with whom authorities are trying to negotiate, according to The Washington Post.
About $ 20,000 per ransom
Kidnappings with ransom are their hallmark
, especially in groups in which a large number of people are
kidnapped at the same time in cars or buses
, according to the Center for Analysis and Research for Human Rights (CARDH, for its acronym in English), a nonprofit organization based in Port-au-Prince cited by CNN.
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Since January there have been at least 628 kidnappings, including 29 foreigners, according to data from this center.
For each abduction, the gang claims
about $ 20,000 in ransom.
The director of the CARDH, Gédéon Jean, told The Washington Post that 80% of the kidnappings registered between July and September are behind the hand of 400 Mawozo.
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The five priests and two nuns kidnapped in April, including French citizens, were imprisoned for three weeks in extremely poor conditions.
The band demanded a reward of one million dollars
, but it is unknown if they were finally paid, according to the aforementioned newspaper.
They ended up being released.
Haiti suffers from a serious political and social crisis exacerbated by the assassination of its president, Jovenel Moïse;
and the earthquake that left more than 2,200 dead in August.