The gang that kidnapped a group of 17 American and Canadian missionaries in Haiti has demanded a ransom of one million dollars for each of them, according to a senior Haitian official quoted by The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
The 16 US citizens and a Canadian were abducted on Saturday by the '400 mawozo' gang after visiting an orphanage in Croix-des-Bouquets, a northeastern suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince, authorities said over the weekend. .
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Haitian Justice Minister Liszt Quitel said Monday that the missionaries were being held by the gang - which is demanding $ 17 million for the group's release - in a safe house on the outskirts of the suburb, according to the WSJ.
The FBI is investigating the kidnapping of 16 US missionaries in Haiti over the past weekend, the White House reported Monday.
The kidnapping of missionaries in Haiti marks the end of the truce between criminal gangs
Oct. 18, 202101: 45
US Government Spokesperson Jen Psaki explained that the President of the country, Joe Biden, has been informed and receives updates on the efforts of the FBI and the State Department to achieve the release of the citizens of his country.
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Psaki did not want to offer more details about the efforts of the FBI and the US Foreign Ministry, and limited himself to pointing out that the US embassy in Port-au-Prince is coordinating with local authorities to put an end to this kidnapping.
The FBI and Haitian police are in contact with the kidnappers, and negotiations could take weeks, Quitel explained to the WSJ.
The kidnapped missionaries are affiliated with Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, which confirmed the kidnapping Sunday in a statement, saying the kidnapped group consisted of five men, seven women, and five children, including an 8-year-old baby. months and children under 3, 6, 14 and 15 years old, according to the minister.
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Dan Hooley, a former field director for Christian Aid Ministries in Haiti, told CNN on Sunday that all of the kidnapped missionaries are believed to have been in a vehicle, and that some were able to contact the organization's local director before they they will take them away.
Young people play soccer next to businesses that are closed due to a general strike in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Monday, October 18, 2021. Matias Delacroix / AP
“A couple of colleagues immediately sent a message to the director and told him what was happening.
And one of them was able to drop a pin, and that was the last (the organization) heard until the kidnappers contacted them later in the day, ”Hooley said.
The gang has recently focused on churches and religious groups, abducting 10 people last April, including several religious, two of them French, who were released later that month in a case that precipitated the resignation of the then Haitian Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe.
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Just after Saturday's kidnapping, one of the American hostages asked for help in a message posted on a WhatsApp group, a source familiar with the incident told The Washington Post.
“Please pray for us !!
They've taken us hostage, they've kidnapped our driver.
Pray, pray, pray.
We don't know where they are taking us, ”the message stated.
Protests paralyze Haiti
As the authorities seek the release of the missionaries, a strike led by local unions and other organizations brought much of daily life to a standstill in Port-au-Prince.
Public transport drivers stayed home, and shops and schools remained closed.
"The population can't take it anymore," Holin Alexis, a motorcycle taxi driver who participated in the strike, told The Associated Press news agency.
Barricades of burning tires blocked the way in some streets of the capital and other cities, such as Les Cayes, in the south of the country, and some people threw stones at the drivers who occasionally passed through the place.
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Only a handful of motorcycle taxi drivers, like Marc Saint-Pierre, roamed the streets of Port-au-Prince in search of passengers.
He said he was attacked for working on Monday, but had no choice.
A protester takes a 'selfie' at a burning barricade set up by protesters in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. Odelyn Joseph / AP
"I have children, and I have to bring food home today," he told the AP.
The poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere is again grappling with an increase in gang-related kidnappings, which had declined in recent months after President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at his residence on July 7 and a major earthquake. 7.2 claimed the lives of more than 2,200 people in August.
“Everybody is worried.
They are kidnapping people from all walks of life, ”Méhu Changeux, president of the Haitian Owners and Drivers Association, told radio station Magik9.
He said the work stoppage would continue until the government can guarantee the safety of the people.
