Haiti gang releases all 12 hostages from US missionary group
- Five of the captives were previously freed by the notorious 400 Mawozo gang, but the remaining dozen were held for two months
- The gang had asked for a US$17 million ransom, threatening to kill the hostages if the demand was not met
A Haiti gang has released all 12 hostages two months to the day that they were kidnapped in Haiti’s capital, Haiti National Police spokesman Garry Desrosiers and two US government sources confirmed.
The hostages were abducted just east of Port-au-Prince by a notorious gang, 400 Mawozo, and were among a group of 12 adults and five children, including an 8-month-old.
Of the group of 17 missionaries, all but one was American. The other one is Canadian.
The missionaries and their relatives were kidnapped in Haiti on October 16 and were the longest-held hostages in the country, where kidnappings for ransom have continued unabated.
After the abduction, Christian Aid Ministries, based in Berlin, Ohio, asked supporters to pray and to fast “to intercede for those who are still being held as well as those who have been released”.
The first two of the hostages were released in late November, followed by three more missionaries on December 5.
After they were freed, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the US was continuing to work at the highest levels with the Haitian government and Canada “to do everything we can to see to it that the remaining hostages are released as soon as possible”.
The gang had asked for US$17 million, or US$1 million per person, to release the hostages. One of its leaders had threatened to kill the hostages if the ransom was not paid.
‘Burned alive’: fireball from fuel truck blast kills 75 in Haiti
Haiti is seeing an unprecedented spike in gang violence and kidnapping, following the July 7 assassination of its president, Jovenel Moïse, which was later followed by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake on August 14 in the southern region of the country.
Gangs have hijacked fuel tankers and blocked the main road connecting the capital of Port-au-Prince with the southern peninsula, as well as other regions.
Since June, violent clashes between warring armed groups have led to the displacement of more than 19,000 Haitians living in the Martissant neighbourhood.
