A million dollars per head.
The leader of the Haitian gang who kidnapped 17 North American missionaries on Saturday east of the capital Port-au-Prince threatened to execute the hostages, in a video shot Wednesday and shared Thursday on YouTube.
"If I do not get what I need, I will kill these Americans, I will unload a big pistol in the head of each one of them", threatens in Creole Wilson Joseph, appearing in costume and surrounded by many men in arms, all gathered in front of the coffins containing the corpses of five members of his gang who he said were killed by the police.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, deemed the video to be authentic.
“We are in contact with the Christian Aid Ministries (organization to which the abducted missionaries belong).
We are in constant contact with the Haitian police.
The FBI is on site in Haiti and in contact with all stakeholders, ”he said.
Officially the United States, like France, refuses to pay ransoms to save their citizens.
One 8 month old baby, four 3, 6, 13 and 15 year olds
According to the Haitian Minister of Justice, Liszt Quitel, the "400 mawozo" gang demands a ransom of $ 17 million to free the group of sixteen Americans and a Canadian kidnapped on Saturday after visiting an orphanage about thirty kilometers from Port- au-Prince, in the heart of the area under the influence of this armed band. According to Christian Aid Ministries, the Ohio-based evangelical Protestant movement to which these pilgrims belong, there are twelve adults and five children aged 8 months, 3, 6, 13 and 15 years old.
From a petty thief to a powerful gang leader, in a country plagued by poverty and corruption, Wilson Joseph, better known by the pseudonym Lanmo Sanjou, is the subject of a search notice from the Haitian police for "assassination , attempted assassination, kidnapping, vehicle theft and hijacking of goods trucks ”.
Last April, his men had already kidnapped seven priests, including two French.
“Leon Charles made me cry, gentlemen.
When it was my turn, I cried bitter tears, and when I make you cry, I will make you cry tears of blood, ”he continues in the video.
Léon Charles, the director of the national police of Haiti, tendered his resignation Thursday, and was replaced by Frantz Elbé a few hours ago.
🔵 PM Ariel Henry proceeded this Thursday, October 21, 2021, in the evening, to the installation of a new Director General of the PNH.
This is Inspector General Frantz ELBE who replaced Mr. Léon Charles in this post following his resignation.
- # pnhhaiti pic.twitter.com/NIiEvyiRXx
- PNH (@pnh_officiel) October 22, 2021
“Time is at work.
We would like public peace to be restored, that we return to normal life and that we find the way to democracy ”, explained Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry on Twitter.
“Finally, we would like to organize elections.
We wish good work and success to the new Director General ”of the police, he added.
Time is at work.
We would like public peace to be restored, that we return to normal life and that we find the path to democracy.
Finally, we would like to organize elections.
We wish good work and success to the new DG ai # Haiti
- Prime Minister of the Republic of Haiti (@PrimatureHT) October 21, 2021
The executive branch is failing to curb crime by gangs, which control entire areas of the country.
In March, the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency in certain areas, followed, in July, after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, by a state of siege.
But gang leaders increasingly present themselves as public figures, keen to play a political role. On Sunday, when Prime Minister Ariel Henry attempted to lead a ceremony commemorating the death of one of Haiti's founding fathers, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, shots were fired until the ministerial delegation withdrew . Jimmy Cherizier, leader of a gang coalition called G9, who calls himself "Barbecue", then appeared in a white suit to drop a bouquet at the scene of Dessalines' murder, instead of the Prime Minister.
On Thursday, groups of motorcycle taxi drivers stepped up barricades across Port-au-Prince to protest the fuel shortage, caused by gangs blocking oil terminals, forcing them to stock up on the black market .
At the beginning of September, the armed bands hijacked more than a dozen tankers at the exit of the only terminal still partially accessible, among the three in the country.
Faced with the risk of seeing their employees sequestered and losing more than 15,000 euros in merchandise by truck, petroleum product distributors have almost suspended their activities.