The group was kidnapped by a gang that had already kidnapped two French religious in April.
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Seventeen people, North American missionaries and their families, were kidnapped on Saturday, October 16, mid-day, by a gang in the eastern suburbs of Port-au-Prince when they came out of ‘an orphanage. Local authorities said the kidnapped group included sixteen Americans and a Canadian, all members of a religious charitable organization Christian Aid Ministries, a Christian movement founded in 1981 in Ohio by Amish and Mennonites.
The gang called “400 Mawozo” diverted several vehicles from a road axle, removing five men, seven women and five children, as well as an undetermined number of Haitian citizens. In April, ten people including seven Catholic clergy, five Haitian ecclesiastics and a French nun and priest, had also been abducted by this gang in the same area at about fifteen kilometers from the center of the capital. A ransom of $ 1 million (831,000 euros) would have been required by the captors. Released after twenty days of captivity, Father Michel Briand had explained to AFP that they had “found in the wrong place at the wrong time”, stating that his captors had told him that they had created their gangs through funding Elderly elected from Haiti.
Extended power of armed gangs
The surrogated bands, which for years control the poorest districts of the Haitian capital, have largely extended their power over Port-au-Prince and its surroundings where they multiply the crapful kidnappings. According to several sources, they would control today half of the capital and its main access. More than 600 kidnappings were identified from January to September 2021, – including 29 concerning foreigners -, compared to 231 at the same period in 2020. Gangs have long avoided the removal of American citizens, for fears of retaliation from the Government of States -Unis, making the Rapt from Saturday all the more spectacular.
The gang “400 Mawozo” is one of the most dangerous armed gangs in the country and one of the first to engage in mass kidnappings. He controls a part of the region is of the capital whose Croix-des-Bouquets agglomeration has become a quasi-ghost town. Fear for his abductions of businessmen and policemen, his sordid rapes on women and girls, “400 Mawozo” also organized the assassination, Tuesday, the Anderson Belony sculptor. The artist was also known for his social commitment in this area.
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