The American organization Christian Aid Ministries confirms that a Canadian is among the 17 missionaries kidnapped Saturday by a criminal gang in Haiti.
According to the organization, at least five children are also part of the group of kidnapped victims, which is believed to be predominantly Americans. These missionaries were trapped while traveling to visit an orphanage.
Haitian police said on Sunday that a criminal gang called “400 Mawozo” was responsible for the kidnapping. They also pointed out that a two-year-old would be among the hostages.
These same “400 Mawozo”, which one could translate as “rustic men”, would have kidnapped five priests and two nuns earlier this year.
Now they have attacked an American organization established in Ganthier, a town east of Port-au-Prince.
The criminal gang is said to control illicit activities in the Croix-des-Bouquets region. They commit all kinds of criminal acts there, including kidnappings, car thefts and extortion against traders, according to the police.
It is a one-minute recording announcing the kidnapping of the missionary group that sounded the alarm when it was sent to various religious organizations, inviting their faithful to prayer for their friends.
“This is an alert. Pray that the gang members involved will repent, ”read the message from a Christian group in the US state of Ohio, Christian Aid Ministries. The director of operations of the mission in Haiti and another man were able to escape the kidnapping since they were not with the group.
In addition, the director of the organization would be in communication with the American embassy. A spokesperson for the US government admitted that they were aware of the information about such a kidnapping in Haiti.
“The safety and well-being of our nationals abroad is a top priority for the United States Department of State,” said the spokesperson, declining to comment further on the matter, however.
Crime on the rise
Haiti is once again seeing an upsurge in kidnappings by organized groups. The phenomenon had diminished after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse at his residence on July 7, as well as in the days following the magnitude 7.2 earthquake which killed more than 2,200 in the southwest of the country. last August.
The kidnappers demand ransoms ranging from a few hundred dollars to a million dollars, according to the authorities.
Last month, a deacon was killed outside a church in the Haitian capital and his wife was kidnapped. She is among the victims of dozens of kidnappings in recent months in this Caribbean country.
At least 328 people were thus taken hostage during the first eight months of 2021, according to data from the Haitian national police in comparison with the kidnapping of 234 people in 2020, indicates a report published last month by the Integrated Bureau of United Nations in Haiti (BINUH).
Gangs have been accused of kidnapping schoolchildren, doctors, police, bus passengers and others.
“Political instability, the rise in the number of increasingly violent gangs and deteriorating socio-economic conditions – including food insecurity and malnutrition – are contributing to the aggravation of this humanitarian crisis,” the BINUH report said.
“Overwhelmed and underfunded police forces cannot solve Haiti’s security problems on their own,” the document said.
On Friday, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate of BINUH until July 15, 2022.
The kidnapping of the American missionaries comes just days after senior American officials visited Haiti where they pledged more resources to aid the Haitian National Police, including an additional $ 15 million to fight the groups violent. The latter are believed to be responsible for the displacement of thousands of Haitians to temporary shelters where hygiene conditions are deteriorating.
Among those who met the head of the National Police was diplomat Uzra Zeya.
“The dismantling of violent gangs is essential for the stability of Haiti and for the security of the people,” she wrote on Twitter.
A demonstration is scheduled for Monday to denounce the lack of security in the country.