They target powerful gang for kidnapping in Haiti 0:46
(CNN) -
The leader of the Haitian gang that kidnapped 17 American and Canadian missionaries threatened to kill the hostages if he doesn't get what he asks for, according to a video posted Thursday.
The video was recorded Wednesday at a funeral for gang members who he said were killed by police, a source in the Haitian security forces tells CNN.
The group of missionaries, including several children, has been captive since Saturday.
A spokesman for the Christian Aid Ministries organization declined to comment to CNN about the gang leader's remarks.
The missionaries were abducted over the weekend by the "400 Mawozo" gang while traveling by car northeast of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
His captors are demanding $ 1 million per hostage, according to Haitian Justice and Interior Minister Liszt Quitel.
Powerful "400 Mawozo" Gang Behind Kidnapping of 17 American and Canadian Missionaries in Haiti, Says Security Source
Among those kidnapped are an 8-month-old baby, a 3-year-old boy and a 6-year-old boy, as well as two young teenagers.
All members of the group come from Amish, Mennonite and other conservative Anabaptist communities in six US states and Ontario, according to Christian Aid Ministries official Weston Showalter.
The threat comes after the first public statement from the victims' families, who on Thursday thanked those who support them and described the kidnapping as a "unique opportunity" to show compassion.
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"God has given our loved ones the unique opportunity to live the commandment of our Lord to love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you," the families said in a message read in front of to the Christian Aid Ministries headquarters in Ohio.
An entrance to the Christian Aid Ministries complex in Titanyen, outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Quitel said Haitian police and FBI negotiators are involved in helping solve the kidnapping, which has focused global attention on an epidemic of gang violence and insecurity in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
At least 782 people were kidnapped in Haiti between January 1 and October 16, according to the latest estimates from the Port-au-Prince organization Center for Analysis and Research for Human Rights (CARDH).
At least 53 were foreigners.
Ransom kidnappings have skyrocketed in recent months following the assassination of Haiti's president in July, according to CARDH.
In the first half of October alone, at least 119 kidnappings were recorded, including 10 in a group in just two days in the Martissant neighborhood of Port-au-Prince.
The 400 Mawozo gang, in particular, has become notorious for group kidnappings, forcing entire buses off the road, according to CARDH.
Father Michel Briand, a French priest who survived his own abduction at the hands of 400 Mawozo this spring, points to poverty and inequality as drivers of crime in a country where many Haitians live on the equivalent of a few dollars a day.
"The problem in Haiti is that what is abnormal has become normal, what is illegal has become part of daily life, and is causing problems in the country. (The kidnappers) are doing a job. It is a means of subsistence".
Kidnappings in Haiti are big business for gangs 2:46
He and several other priests and nuns were held for more than two weeks in April before being released.
Briand says his captors started withholding the food towards the end, which he believes was a pressure tactic.
"If the kidnapped missionaries are together, their captivity will be easier and they will be able to comfort each other. But they should not lose hope. The kidnappers play with time and with the nerves of the people and the negotiators," he said.
Briand, who has lived in Haiti for more than 30 years, also blamed the government for failing to end the kidnapping streak.
"Things seem to be out of his control," he told CNN.
"One day, the whole country will be held hostage."
The government is working tirelessly to achieve a peaceful solution to this kidnapping, Quitel said.
But there is little doubt about the immense power wielded by well-armed Haitian gangs in the country's capital.
On the same weekend as the kidnapping of the Christian Aid Ministries missionaries, security concerns forced Prime Minister Ariel Henry to thwart his plans to lay a wreath for the leader of the Haitian Revolution, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, in a monument located in an area of Port-au-Prince controlled by gangs.
Haiti Kidnapping
