Christian
Aid
Ministries
in
Berlin,
Ohio is
seen
here on
Sunday,
Oct. 17,
2021. A
group of
17
missionaries
including
children
has been
kidnapped
by a
gang in
Haiti,
according
to a
voice
message
sent to
various
religious
missions
by an
organization
with
direct
knowledge
of the
incident.
The
message
from
Ohio-based
Christian
Aid
Ministries
said the
missionaries
were on
their
way home
from
building
an
orphanage.
(AP
Photo/Tom
E.
Puskar) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A man
and a
child
walk by
burning
tires on
a street
in
Port-au-Prince,
Haiti,
Sunday,
Oct. 17,
2021. A
group of
17 U.S.
missionaries
including
children
was
kidnapped
by a
gang in
Haiti on
Saturday,
Oct. 16,
according
to a
voice
message
sent to
various
religious
missions
by an
organization
with
direct
knowledge
of the
incident.
(AP
Photo /
Joseph
Odelyn) |
|
FBI in
Haiti
after 16
American
missionaries
visiting
an
orphanage
kidnapped
by gang
By
Jacqueline
Charles
miamiherald.com
Haiti’s
roads
are
chaotic
enough.
Now add
robberies
and the
kidnapping
of bus
drivers.
No
longer
is
traveling
Haiti's
already
chaotic
roadways
a
question
of
whether
Haitians
will
reach
their
destination,
but
rather
will
they
make it
back
home
alive as
armed
robberies
and
kidnapping-for-ransom
become
almost
daily
occurrences.
No
longer
is
traveling
Haiti's
already
chaotic
roadways
a
question
of
whether
Haitians
will
reach
their
destination,
but
rather
will
they
make it
back
home
alive as
armed
robberies
and
kidnapping-for-ransom
become
almost
daily
occurrences.
By Jose
A.
Iglesias
The
abduction
of 16
American
missionaries
and one
Canadian
in Haiti
by a
notorious
armed
gang
known
for
extorting
businesses
and
ransoming
kidnapped
victims
catapulted
the
Caribbean
nation’s
insecurity
crisis
into the
global
spotlight
Sunday
as FBI
agents
arrived
in
Port-au-Prince
to help
with
negotiations
to
liberate
the
hostages.
FBI
agents
arrived
on an
aircraft
chartered
by the
U.S.
government
hours
after
reports
confirmed
that 17
Christian
missionaries
including
five
children
had been
taken
hostage
Saturday
in the
area of
La
Tremblay
in
Ganthier,
just
east of
the
capital.
A State
Department
official,
confirming
the
kidnappings,
said the
welfare
and
safety
of U.S.
citizens
abroad
is one
of the
highest
priorities
of the
Department
of
State.
“We have
been in
regular
contact
with
senior
Haitian
authorities
and will
continue
to work
with
them and
interagency
partners,”
the
official
added.
The
brazen
kidnappings
pose a
challenge
not only
for
Haiti’s
weak
interim
government
that
took
control
of the
country
after
the
shocking
July
assassination
of
Haitian
President
Jovenel
Moïse,
but also
for the
Biden
administration.
The
administration
has been
increasingly
under
pressure
to help
Haiti
address
its dire
security
challenges
after
the U.S.
supported
the
departure
of the
United
Nations
peacekeeping
mission
from the
country
after 13
years.
The
kidnappings
happened
just
days
after
U.S.
officials,
including
the
Under
Secretary
of State
for
Civilian
Security,
Democracy,
and
Human
Rights
Uzra
Zeya,
visited
Haiti to
evaluate
the
country’s
security
challenges
— and a
day
after
the U.N.
Security
Council
unanimously
extended
the
mandate
of its
political
office
in
Port-au-Prince
by nine
months.
That
decision
came as
U.N.
diplomats,
in a
separate
meeting,
heard
from
Haitians
and
others
about
the
country’s
deteriorating
political
landscape,
kidnappings
for
ransom
and
other
gang
crimes.
“When
the
Security
Council
took the
decision
of
reducing
the U.N.
presence
in that
country,
primarily
due to
financial
considerations,
the
Dominican
Republic
expressed
its
strong
concern
of an
early
departure
and its
probable
negative
consequences,”
Dominican
Foreign
Minister
Roberto
Alvarez
told
members
of the
U.N.
Security
Council
Friday
during
the
informal
hearing.
“Today
unfortunately,
we are
witnessing
the
dramatic
consequences
of this
hasty
decision.”
The gang
believed
to be
behind
the
kidnapping
is known
as 400
Mawozo,
which
operates
in the
area of
Croix-des-Bouquets
along
the
route to
the
border
Haiti
shares
with the
Dominican
Republic.
It has
gradually
graduated
from the
stealing
of cows
to cars,
to now
kidnappings
and
extorting
of
businesses
in the
area. It
was
behind
the
April
abduction
of
several
Roman
Catholic
clergy,
and
since
has
developed
a
reputation
for
attacking
vehicles
and
kidnapping
people
from
cars and
buses,
then
ransoming
them as
a group
rather
than
individually
to avoid
scrutiny.
The gang
is led
by a
Wilson
Joseph
who goes
by the
nickname
“Lanmò
Sanjou,”
which
means
“death
doesn’t
know
which
day its
coming.”
Another
one of
its
leaders
is Joly
“Yonyon”
Germine,
who is
currently
jailed
but
considered
influential
even
from
behind
bars.
“This is
the type
of
kidnapping
that 400
Mawozo
do; we
call it
a
collective
kidnapping
where
they
kidnap
any
entire
bus or
car,”
said
Gédéon
Jean,
who runs
the
Center
for
Analysis
and
Research
in Human
Rights
in
Port-au-Prince,
which
monitors
kidnapping
in the
country.
Jean
said the
gang is
responsible
for
about
80% of
the
kidnappings
taking
place in
Haiti.
In rare
instances
are
people
released
because
of the
police.
In the
majority
of
cases,
they are
held for
days,
sometimes
even
weeks
and only
released
after a
ransom
has been
paid. In
some
instances,
females
have
been
raped
and
victims
have
even
been
killed,
while
others
tortured
in
captivity
with
burns.
Listen
to
today's
top
stories
from the
Miami
Herald:
Members
of the
kidnapped
group
are part
of
Christian
Aid
Ministries.
The
charity
said in
a
statement
Sunday
that it
was
requesting
“urgent
prayers.”
The
charity
confirmed
Saturday’s
abduction
happened
while
the
missionaries
were on
a trip
to visit
an
orphanage.
“We are
seeking
God’s
direction
for a
resolution,
and
authorities
are
seeking
ways to
help,”
the
statement
said.
The
group of
17
includes
five
men,
seven
women
and five
children,
the
charity
said,
“Join us
in
praying
for
those
who are
being
held
hostage,
the
kidnappers,
and the
families,
friends,
and
churches
of those
affected.
Pray for
those
who are
seeking
God’s
direction
and
making
decisions
regarding
this
matter,”
the
statement
said.
A source
who
knows
many of
the
victims
said
they are
part of
the
Mennonite
community
and live
in
Haiti.
While
U.S.
officials,
including
the FBI,
had been
alerted
early
about
the
kidnapping,
Haiti
National
Police
spokeswoman
Marie-Michelle
Verrier
told the
Miami
Herald
they
they
still
had not
confirmed
the
abductions.
“We have
no
information
and no
one has
filed a
report,”
she
said.
The
kidnapping
of the
missionaries
is the
latest
in a
wave of
abductions
and
insecurity
in
Haiti,
which is
facing a
myriad
of
challenges.
There is
no
president
or
parliament,
warring
political
and
civil
society
factions,
a dismal
economy,
a
migration
crisis
and a
worsening
humanitarian
situation
after a
deadly
August
14
earthquake
struck
its
southern
peninsula
and left
over
2,200
dead.
On
Sunday,
Haitian
Prime
Minister
Ariel
Henry,
commemorating
the
215th
anniversary
of the
death of
founding
father
Jean-Jacques
Dessalines,
was
prevented
from
laying
the
traditional
wreath
at Pont
Rouge,
just
north of
the
capital,
where
Dessalines
was
assassinated.
Local
media
reported
that
heavily
armed
gang
members
blocked
Henry
from
laying
the
wreath
and his
delegation
was
forced
to leave
under a
chorus
of
automatic
gunfire.
Henry
made no
mention
of the
incident
on his
Twitter
feed
when he
noted
that he
had
deposited
an
arrangement
in
memory
of the
emperor
at the
altar
where
his
remains
lie. The
altar is
at the
national
pantheon
museum,
known as
the
MUPANAH,
across
from the
presidential
palace.
Observers
have
noted
that the
only way
to
tackle
Haiti’s
rampant
insecurity
is with
the help
of
external
forces,
something
the
Dominican
Republic
asked
for
during
its
president’s
recent
address
to the
United
Nations
General
Assembly.
However,
Haitians
have
been
divided
about
the
return
of U.N.
peacekeeping
troops
or even
the
presence
of the
U.S.
military
in the
country
while
acknowledging
that
their
beleaguered,
demoralized,
underpaid
and
corrupt
police
force is
no match
for the
country’s
well-armed
gangs.
Though
Haiti’s
interim
leadership
that
took
control
after
the
death of
Moïse
had
requested
that the
Biden
administration
send
U.S.
troops,
the
White
House
did not
support
the
idea.
Earlier
this
month,
Helen La
Lime,
the
special
representative
for U.N.
Secretary-General
António
Guterres
in
Haiti,
told the
Security
Council
that the
reestablishment
of
security,
especially
in the
Port-au-Prince
metropolitan
area,
must be
prioritized
by
Haitian
authorities.
“The
control
that
gangs
exercise
around
strategic
entry
and exit
points
of the
capital
has had
a
detrimental
impact
on
Haiti’s
economy
and the
movement
of
people
and
goods,”
she
said.
Kidnappings
in Haiti
have
increased
300%
between
July and
September,
when at
least
221
abductions
were
recorded,
according
to the
crime
observation
unit of
the
Center
for
Analysis
and
Research
in Human
Rights
in
Port-au-Prince.
The rise
has
coincided
with the
deepening
political
turmoil
after
the
president’s
murder
and
rampant
insecurity
in
Port-au-Prince,
where
armed
gangs
have
extended
their
control
over
large
swaths
of the
capital.
In
recent
weeks,
people
have
been
abducted
while
attending
church
and
others
from the
hillside
of
Petionville,
a tony
suburb
of the
capital.
While
locals
remain
the bulk
of those
who have
kidnapped,
more
than 40
foreigners
from
three
countries
—
France,
Canada
and the
United
States —
have
fallen
victim
so far
this
year,
according
to
information
compiled
by the
Center
for
Analysis
and
Research
in Human
Rights.
“The
gangs
today
have
saturated
Port-au-Prince
and they
are
kidnapping
people
everywhere,”
said
Jean,
adding
that
it’s
difficult
to put a
number
to the
kidnappings
in
Haiti.
Since
June, an
increase
in
violence
by
warring
gangs
has
caused
the
displacement
of at
least
19,000
people
from
Cité-Soleil,
Croix-des-Bouquets,
Delmas
and
Martissant,
where
gangs
have
also
attacked
a police
station,
destroying
it with
a
bulldozer.
Crossing
Martissant
has
increasingly
become
more
difficult,
with
gang
members
blocking
the road
with a
40-foot
container
and
attacking
passing
vehicles
in order
to
abduct
passengers
and hold
them for
ransom.
As a
result
of the
latest
kidnapping
wave,
the
president
of the
National
Association
of
Owners
and
Drivers
of
Haiti,
Mehu
Changeux,
announced
a
nationwide
strike
Monday
on
behalf
of the
public
transport
unions.
He has
since
received
support
from
other
sectors
who also
plan to
close
their
businesses
in
protest.
“400
Mawozo
is
kidnapping
people
every
which
way; in
the
Central
Plateau,
the
North,
it’s the
same
thing.
We are
asking
all 10
[regional]
departments
to bring
everything
in the
country
to a
standstill
so that
the
leaders
will
take
their
responsibility,”
Changeux
said.
“What’s
happening
here
concerns
the
whole
society.”
In
April,
the gang
400
Mawozo
kidnapped
nine
Catholic
clergy,
including
five
priests,
two nuns
and
three
relatives
of the
priest
in
Port-au-Prince.
All were
eventually
released
but not
before
the
shocking
abduction
provoked
a
three-day
shutdown
by Roman
Catholic
institutions
including
schools
and
universities
to
protest
the
abductions
and
demand
the
release
of the
group,
which
included
French
citizens.
McClatchy
Washington
Bureau
Senior
National
Security
Council
and
White
House
Correspondent
Michael
Wilner
contributed
to this
report.
A group
of
American
missionaries
have
been
kidnapped
in
Haiti,
allegedly
by the
same
gang
that
kidnapped
a group
of
Catholic
clergy
in April
of this
year.
Profile
Image of
Jacqueline
Charles
Jacqueline
Charles
has
reported
on Haiti
and the
English-speaking
Caribbean
for the
Miami
Herald
for over
a
decade.
A
Pulitzer
Prize
finalist
for her
coverage
of the
2010
Haiti
earthquake,
she was
awarded
a 2018
Maria
Moors
Cabot
Prize —
the most
prestigious
award
for
coverage
of the
Americas.
Advertise With Us:
Certified Minority Business Enterprise
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|