Members of the band 400 Mawozo, which for months has controlled the area of Port-au-Prince where the group of missionaries and their families circulated on Saturday, demanded a million dollars for each hostage, according to the sources who asked not to be identified.
Justice Minister Liszt Quitel confirmed the involvement of this armed gang and told the US newspaper The Washington Post that kidnappers usually demand large sums that are later lowered in negotiations. The minister said his team is not participating in the negotiations.
The Christian Aid Ministries organization, to which the abducted missionaries belong, said Sunday that the abductees are five men, seven women and five children. Sixteen are American and one Canadian.
Based in Ohio, the United States, the religious entity said in its statement that the group was returning from an orphanage when it was kidnapped on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
In April, 10 people, including two French religious, were kidnapped for 20 days by the 400 Mawozo gang in the same region between Port-au-Prince and the border with the Dominican Republic.
Haiti is considered a red zone by the United States that advised its citizens not to travel to that country due to the numerous kidnappings that, for the most part, “have Americans as victims.”
In Haiti, a deep political crisis paralyzes socioeconomic development for many years, and the assassination of the president Jovenel Moise On July 7, an armed commando in his private residence plunged the Caribbean country even more into uncertainty.
In the first three months of 2021, more than 600 crimes of this type were registered, against 231 in the same period of 2020, according to the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights, based in the Haitian capital.
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