An armed gang has demanding a ransom of $17 million for the group of American and Canadian missionaries that were recently kidnapped in Haiti.
According to Haiti’s Minister of Justice, Liszt Quitel, the notorious 400 Mawozo gang is demanding $1 million per missionary.
The gang controls the Ganthier community in the eastern suburbs of of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, where the group of 16 U.S. nationals and one Canadian was kidnapped while traveling back after visiting an orphanage.
Quitel said the hostages include five children, the youngest of whom is eight months old.
The Human Rights Analysis and Research Center, a non-profit centre in Haiti, said it has recorded no fewer than 628 kidnappings since the start of 2021, out of which 29 were foreign nationals.
The centre said there was a 300 percent increase in the number of incidents in September compared to that of July.
As the search for the abducted missionaries intensifies, the citizens of Haiti held a general strike in Port-au-Prince to protest against persistent violence and Haiti’s devastated economy.
