gang kidnaps 17 American and Canadian missionaries and their children in Haiti demands $1million ransom for EACH abductee

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The gang behind the kidnapping of 17 American and Canadian missionaries in Haiti has demanded a ransom of up to $1million for each person, the country’s justice minister said on Tuesday.

Liszt Quitel, Haiti’s Minister of Interior and Local Authorities, said in a phone interview that ‘the demand was made to the country chief of the Christian Aid Ministries’ and that the 400 Mawozo gang had ‘asked for $1 million per person,’ referring to the Christian aid group whose members were kidnapped.

‘Often these gangs know these demands cannot be met and they will consider a counter offer from the families, and the negotiations can take a couple of days sometimes, or a couple of weeks.’

Quitel added that the gang did not give any indication of a deadline for the payment.

The captives are missionaries from the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries and include five children, the youngest just two years old. They were forced out of a bus at gunpoint after visiting an orphanage on Saturday in the suburbs of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Groups that follow kidnappings in Haiti believe they are being held in the town of Croix-des-Bouquets, which is controlled by the notorious 400 Mawozo gang.

Authorities suspect the missionaries were snatched by the gang, whose thugs have abducted dozens of people already this year, including foreign nationals. In recent months, 400 Mawozo has targeted clergy members and other Christian worshippers.

Gèdèon Jean, the executive director of the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights, an advocacy group in Port-au-Prince, told the The New York Times that the kidnappers could ask as much as $1 million per hostage in ransom for each of the 17.

‘The hostages are going to be freed – that’s for sure. We don’t know in how many days, but they’re going to negotiate,’ Jean said.

‘The 400 Mawozo gang don’t want to kill the hostages. Nowadays the gangs, especially in a situation that is a little financially vulnerable, they increase kidnappings to have enough money.

‘So the motive behind the surge in kidnappings for us is a financial one, if the gangs need money to buy ammunition, to get weapons, to be able to function.’

Authorities on Sunday night said they were trying to negotiate with Joly ‘Yonyon’ Germine, a jailed gang member considered to be the second-in-command of 400 Mawozo.

In a statement Sunday on its website, Christian Aid Ministries said: ‘Join us in praying for those who are being held hostage, the kidnappers and the families, friends and churches of those affected.

‘We request urgent prayer for the group of Christian Aid Ministries workers who were abducted while on a trip to visit an orphanage on Saturday, October 16. We are seeking God’s direction for a resolution, and authorities are seeking ways to help.’

Dan Hooley, a former director for the group, said that some of the missionaries had not been in Haiti for long.

One family had lived there for ‘a couple of months,’ he told The Times, and another man had arrived on Friday to work on a relief project related to an earthquake that struck in August.

He described Christian Aid Ministries as ‘the big dog in the mission world,’ capable of importing containers full of medicines into Haiti whereas others ‘just can’t get it done.’

The group was founded in 1981 ‘to be a trustworthy and efficient channel for Amish, Mennonite, and other conservative Anabaptist groups and individuals to minister to physical and spiritual needs around the world.’

It reported a revenue of more than $130 million in 2019, largely through donations, and operates in 126 countries.

It is unclear if the kidnapping victims were chosen because of the mission’s net worth, although Haiti has one of the highest rates of kidnapping in the world, with middle class members of the public often targeted by gangs in the hope of a small ransom.

source: dailymail.co.uk