Negotiations to secure the release of 17 members of a missionary group based in the United States, kidnapped over the weekend by a violent Haitian gang demanding a million dollars per person, lasted to a fourth day.
The group included five children between the ages of 8 months and 15 yearsAlthough authorities did not clarify whether the ransom requests included them, a prominent Haitian official said Tuesday. Sixteen of those abducted were Americans and one Canadian.
In the first half of October, at least 119 kidnappings were recorded in Haiti, according to the Center for Analysis and Research on Human Rights, a local nonprofit group. A Haitian driver was captured along with the missionaries, the group noted, which brought the total number of people kidnapped by the gang to 18.
The Haitian official, who was not authorized to speak to the press, told The Associated Press that a person from the 400 Mawozo gang had claimed ransom on Saturday in a call to the leader of Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries shortly after. of the kidnapping.
“This group of workers has been committed to their ministry in impoverished Haiti,” said the religious group.. The missionaries’ last project had been to help rebuild houses that had collapsed in the 7.2 magnitude earthquake. which struck southwestern Haiti on Aug. 14, the missionary group noted.
The entourage was returning from visiting an orphanage when the kidnapping occurred, the organization said.
In response to the recent wave of kidnappings, Haitian workers went on strike on Monday that closed businesses, schools and public transportation networks. The strike was a further blow to the fragile Haitian economy. Unions and other groups promised to continue the strike indefinitely.
In a peaceful demonstration north of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, dozens of people walked the streets of Titanyen to call for the missionaries’ release. Some carried signs with messages such as “Free the Americans” and “No to kidnappings!” They explained that the missionaries had helped them pay bills and build roads and schools.
“They do a lot for us,” said Beatrice Jean.
Meanwhile, the country’s fuel shortage got worse and businesses blamed gangs for blocking roads and fuel distribution terminals.
Hundreds of motorcycles hit the streets of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday while the drivers shouted “If there is no fuel, we are going to burn it all!”
There was a protest near the prime minister’s residence, where police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd demanding fuel.
In Washington, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the FBI was “part of a coordinated effort by the US government” to free the missionaries. The US embassy in Port-au-Prince coordinated with local officials and families of the hostages.
“We know that these groups attack US citizens because they assume they have the resources and finances to pay ransoms, even if that is not the case,” Psaki said. The government has urged US citizens not to visit Haiti, he noted.
The traditional position of the United States is not to negotiate with kidnappers, and Psaki declined to comment on details of the operation.
It is the largest kidnapping of its kind in recent years. Haitian gangs have grown bolder after the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the earthquake that killed more than 2,200 people.
The people abducted were six women, six men and five children, Christian Aid Ministries said. A sign on the door of the organization’s headquarters in Berlin, Ohio, indicated that it was closed due to the kidnapping situation.
News of the event spread rapidly through Holmes County, Ohio, home to one of the largest Amish and conservative Mennonite communities in the United States, explained Marcus Yoder, executive director of the Center for Amish and Mennonite Heritage in nearby Millersburg. , Ohio.
Christian Aid Ministries has support from conservative Mennonite, Amish, and similar communities that are part of the Anabaptist tradition.
The organization was founded in the early 1980s and began working in Haiti that decade, said Steven Nolt, a professor of Anabaptist studies and history at Elizabethtown College, Pennsylvania. The group has a mission with permanent staff in Haiti and several counties, and sends religious, school and medical materials to different parts of the world.
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