US missionaries kidnapped in Haiti after building an orphanage
A group of U.S. missionaries and their families were reportedly kidnapped by gang members in Haiti after leaving an orphanage on Saturday.
USA TODAY, Wochit
A notorious gang with a history of major kidnappings organized the abduction of a group of U.S. missionaries and their families seized as they left a Haitian orphanage, Haitian police said Sunday.
The abductions Saturday came days after a team of U.S. officials visited the impoverished nation and pledged support for its anti-gang measures.
Seventeen people, including five children, were seized near the capital of Port-au-Prince, the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said. A voice message from the ministry, obtained by the Associated Press, said the group’s field director was not with the group that was taken and was working with the U.S. Embassy.
“This is a special prayer alert,” the message said. “Pray that the gang members … come to repentance.”
The missionaries were on their way home, the message said. A statement from the organization released Sunday afternoon said all but one member of the group are American citizens and the other one is Canadian.
“We are seeking God’s direction for a resolution, and authorities are seeking ways to help,” the statement said.
Haitian police inspector Frantz Champagne said a gang called 400 Mawozo abducted the group, which included some elderly people and a 2-year-old. The ministry’s former field director, Dan Hooley, told The New York Times that all of the adults were staff members for the group.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said officials were aware of reports on Saturday’s incident.
“The welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the Department of State,” the spokesperson said, declining further comment.
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The Washington Post reported that Haitian kidnappers have a history of waiting one to three days before making exorbitant ransom demands that get negotiated down.
“Sometimes they start by asking for a million, but then accept $10,000 or $20,000,” Pierre Espérance, director of Haiti’s National Human Rights Defense Network, told the newspaper. “There is no fixed amount.”
In recent months, 400 Mawozo members have increasingly engaged in mass kidnappings involving buses and carloads of victims. In April, the gang kidnapped five priests and two nuns, prompting multiple Catholic universities and schools to close in protest.
Aid groups in Haiti routinely rely on guarantees of safe passage from whoever controls areas of the country, often gang leaders who publicly make assurances of safe travel for aid workers. The disintegration of government control in recent months has fueled an alarming increase in kidnappings.
At least 328 kidnapping victims were reported to Haiti’s National Police in the first eight months of 2021, compared with a total of 234 for all of 2020, according to a report issued last month by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti known as BINUH.
Saturday’s abduction comes just days after an entourage of U.S. officials held talks with leading Haiti’s police chief and other top Haitian officials. The effort was led by Uzra Zeya, the U.S. under secretary of state for civilian security, democracy, and human rights. The U.S. pledged $15 million to help reduce gang violence.
“The U.S. supports inclusive, Haitian-led solutions to Haitian challenges,” Zeya said on Twitter last week. “I was heartened to meet w/ Haitian civil society leaders and learn about their vision for their nation’s future. We’re listening to Haitian voices, & civil society is essential for every nation to thrive.”
The National Association of Owners and Drivers of Haiti called a nationwide strike for Monday to denounce increasing security breakdowns in the country, particularly acts of violence targeting transport workers. GardaWorld Corporation, a Canadian private security firm that operates in Haiti, said the strike could prompt rallies across the nation.
“There is a heightened threat of violence and disruptions at all demonstrations in the country,” the firm warned.
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Haiti, by most measures, is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Political instability has heightened in recent months with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July. In August, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake killed more than 2,200 people and destroyed more than 130,000 homes, along with roads and other infrastructure, according to the United Nations. Days later, Tropical Storm Grace rolled across the country, dumping up to 10 inches of rain and causing widespread flooding.
Moïse’s successor, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, has become embroiled in the investigation into Moïse’s murder as Henry’s government struggles to meet the needs of disaster victims.
Haitians trying to flee the battered country have found a mixed reaction from President Joe Biden’s administration, which has struggled to respond to the arrival of thousands of Haitian migrants at the U.S. southern border. Biden’s advisers have relied on a Trump administration policy, adopted during the pandemic, to send Haitians back to their country without allowing them to make an asylum claim.
The U.S. special envoy for Haiti, Daniel Foote, resigned his post last month over what he called the Biden administration’s “inhumane” decision to repatriate thousands of Haitian migrants seeking asylum in the United States.
Contributing: Marc Sony Ricot, Deirdre Shesgreen and Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
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