Source: BBC Monitoring
A gang that kidnapped a group of missionaries from the US and Canada in Haiti last week is demanding $1m in ransom for each of the 17 people it is holding, the Haitian justice minister has told the Wall Street Journal.
The gang is notorious for kidnapping groups of people for ransom.
The same gang, 400 Mazowo, abducted a group of Catholic clergy in April.
The clergy were later released but it is not clear if a ransom was paid.
All of those kidnapped are US citizens, except one who is a Canadian national. Among those seized are five men, seven women and five children. The youngest child is reportedly only two years old.
They worked for Christian Aids Ministries, a non-profit missionary organization based in Ohio, which supplies Haitian children with shelter, food and clothing.
The missionaries were returning from a visit to an orphanage when the bus they were travelling in was seized by the gang members on a main road in the town of Ganthier, east of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
There are a reportedly 162 gangs active in Haiti with an estimated 3000 members.
Seizing vehicles and all of their occupants for ransom is one of the main activities the 400 Mazowo gang uses to finance itself.
The Washington Post said one of those abducted had posted a WhatsApp message calling for help. “Please pray for us!! We are being held hostage, they kidnapped our driver. Pray pray pray. We don’t know where they’re taking us,” it said.
The White House said on Monday that both the US Department of State and the FBI were assisting Haitian authorities with the case.
A former field director for Christian Aid Ministries in Haiti told CNN that the kidnappers had already made contact with the missionary organization.
Adam Kinzinger, a Republican congressman from Illinois, told CNN he believed the US should negotiate with the kidnappers, but not pay ransom.
“We need to track down where they are and see if negotiations – without paying ransom – are possible,” he said. “Or do whatever we need to do, on a military front or police front.”
In Haiti, local unions staged a walkout on Monday in protest at the rising levels of crime.
The strike closed down business in Port-au-Prince and other cities, as public transportation employees stayed home. Barricades were set up in some areas to prevent workers from crossing picket lines.
Haiti has one of the highest kidnapping rates in the world.
This year has been particularly bad, with more than 600 kidnappings recorded in the first three quarters of 2021, compared with 231 over the same period last year, according to a local civil society group.
The Catholic Church has previously described the situation as “a descent into hell”, with gangs taking people from all walks of life, both local and foreign.
Staff and agencies at The Guardian
Authorities are said to be negotiating for the missionaries release but are reluctant to pay money that will be used for ‘more guns and more munitions’
Liszt Quitel told the Wall Street Journal the FBI and Haitian police were in contact with the kidnappers from the 400 Mawozo gang.
It is the largest reported kidnapping of its kind in recent years, with Haitian gangs growing more brazen and abductions spiking as the country tries to recover from the 7 July assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck southern Haiti on 14 August and killed more than 2,200 people.
Associated Press in Port-au-Prince
In a video posted on social media on Thursday, Wilson Joseph, the supposed leader of the 400 Mawozo gang, said: “I swear by thunder that if I don’t get what I’m asking for, I will put a bullet in the heads of these Americans.”
Joseph also threatened the prime minister, Ariel Henry, and the chief of Haiti’s national police, Léon Charles, as he spoke in front of coffins that apparently held several members of his gang who were recently killed.
“You guys make me cry. I cry water. But I’m going to make you guys cry blood,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, said that the families of those who’d been kidnapped are from Amish, Mennonite and other conservative Anabaptist communities in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Ontario, Canada.
Weston Showalter, a spokesman for the religious group, read a letter from the hostages’ families, in which they said, “God has given our loved ones the unique opportunity to live out our Lord’s command to love your enemies.”
The group invited people to join them in prayer for the kidnappers as well as those kidnapped and expressed gratitude for help from “people that are knowledgeable and experienced in dealing with” such situations.
“Pray for these families,” Showalter said. “They are in a difficult spot.”
The same day that the missionaries were kidnapped, a gang also abducted a Haiti university professor, according to a statement that Haiti’s Office of Citizen Protection issued on Tuesday.
It also noted that a Haitian pastor abducted earlier this month has not been released despite a ransom being paid.
“The criminals … operate with complete impunity, attacking all members of society,” the organization said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators blocked roads and burned tires in Haiti’s capital to decry a severe fuel shortage and a spike in insecurity and to demand that the prime minister step down.
The scattered protest took place across the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince.
In addition to kidnappings, the gangs also are blamed for blocking gas distribution terminals and hijacking supply trucks, which officials say has led to a shortage of fuel.
Many gas stations now remain closed for days at a time, and the lack of fuel is so dire that the chief executive of Digicel Haiti announced on Tuesday that 150 of its 1,500 branches countrywide were out of diesel.
“Nothing works!” complained Davidson Meiuce, who joined Thursday’s protest. “We are suffering a lot.”
Some protesters held up signs including one that read, “Down with the high cost of living.”
Demonstrators clashed with police in some areas, with officers firing teargas that mixed with the heavy black smoke rising from burning tires that served as barricades.
Alexandre Simon, a 34-year-old English and French teacher, said he and others were protesting because Haitians were facing such dire situations.
“There are a lot of people who cannot eat,” he said. “There is no work … There are a lot of things we don’t have.”
The country has been further thrown into chaos by the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse (Joe Van Nell, Mo Ease) in July, as rival factions fight to gain control of the country in the face of a struggling police force.
Peter Beaumont, Tom Phillips and Julian Borger
The Guardian, Wed 7 Jul 2021
Moïse, was assassinated in his home by a group of armed men who also seriously injured his wife, according to a statement and comments made by the country’s interim prime minister.
Speaking on a local radio station, Claude Joseph confirmed that Moïse, 53, had been killed, saying the attack was carried out by an “armed commando group” that included foreigners.
In a televised national address, Joseph declared a state of emergency across the country, and made a call for calm. “The situation is under control,” he said.
Late on Wednesday Haiti’s communications secretary said police had arrested the “presumed assassins”. Frantz Exantus did not provide further details about the killing or say how many suspects had been arrested. The police chief later said officers were fighting with the group and that four had been shot dead and another two arrested.
According to the Haitian ambassador to Washington, Bocchit Edmond, Moïse’s killers claimed to be members of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as they entered his guarded residence.
“This was a well-orchestrated commando attack,” Edmond told the Guardian. “They presented themselves as DEA agents, telling people they had come as part of a DEA operation.”
In videos circulating on social media, a man with an American accent is heard saying in English over a megaphone: “DEA operation. Everybody stand down. DEA operation. Everybody back up, stand down.”
Residents reported hearing gunshots and seeing men dressed in black running through the neighborhood.
“It could be foreign mercenaries, because the video footage showed them speaking in Spanish,” Edmond said.
“It was something carried out by professionals, by killers … But since the investigation has just been opened, we prefer to wait on legal authorities to have a better assessment of the situation. We don’t know for sure, with real certainty, who’s behind this.
“This is an act of barbarity. It’s an attack on our democracy,” he said.
Edmond said he had asked the White House on Wednesday for US help in identifying and capturing the killers.
“We need a lot more information,” Joe Biden said later at the White House, calling the killing “very worrisome”.
In a written statement, the US president offered condolences and assistance. “We condemn this heinous act, and I am sending my sincere wishes for First Lady Moïse’s recovery,” the statement said. “The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti.”
Moïse’s time in office was marked by an increase in political instability, allegations of corruption and a long-running dispute about when his period in office should end.
He had been ruling by decree for more than a year after the country failed to hold legislative elections and he wanted to push through controversial constitutional changes.
Haiti’s opposition claims Moïse should have stepped down on 7 February to coincide with the fifth anniversary of 2015 elections that were cancelled and then re-run a year later because of allegations of fraud. In February the US said it supported Moïse’s position that he had the right to govern until February 2022.
Earlier this year amid allegations by Moïse of a coup attempt that planned to “murder him” and fresh protests, he moved to protect his position, ordering the arrest of 23 people including a supreme court judge and a senior police official, while declaring he was “not a dictator”.
Opponents had also accused Moïse’s government of fueling political violence by providing gangs with guns and money to intimidate his adversaries.
So we have to ask. Was one of the gangs he provided guns and money to, the 400 Mawozo gang, responsible for the recent kidnappings?
Sure raises a lot of new questions doesn’t it?
So where is this place and what can history tell us about Haiti?
CIA World Factbook
The native Taino (Tie EE No) – who inhabited the island of Hispaniola when Christopher COLUMBUS first landed on it in 1492 – were virtually wiped out by Spanish settlers within 25 years.
In the early 17th century, the French established a presence on Hispaniola.
In 1697, Spain ceded to the French the western third of the island, which later became Haiti.
The French colony, based on forestry and sugar-related industries, became one of the wealthiest in the Caribbean but relied heavily on the forced labor of enslaved Africans.
In the late 18th century, Toussaint L’OUVERTURE led a revolution of Haiti’s nearly half a million slaves that ended France’s rule on the island.
After a prolonged struggle, and under the leadership of Jean-Jacques DESSALINES, Haiti became the first country in the world led by former slaves after declaring its independence in 1804, but it was forced to pay an indemnity to France for more than a century and was shunned by other countries for nearly 40 years.
The United States Government’s interests in Haiti existed for decades prior to its occupation. As a potential naval base for the United States, Haiti’s stability concerned U.S. diplomatic and defense officials who feared Haitian instability might result in foreign rule of Haiti.
In 1868, President Andrew Johnson suggested the annexation of the island of Hispaniola, consisting of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, to secure a U.S. defensive and economic stake in the West Indies.
Following the assassination of the Haitian President in July of 1915, President Woodrow Wilson sent the United States Marines into Haiti to restore order and maintain political and economic stability in the Caribbean. This occupation continued until 1934.
After the US occupied Haiti from 1915-1934, Francois “Papa Doc” DUVALIER and then his son Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” DUVALIER led repressive and corrupt regimes that ruled Haiti from 1957-1971 and 1971-1986, respectively.
A massive magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010 with an epicenter about 25 km (15 mi) west of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Estimates are that over 300,000 people were killed and some 1.5 million left homeless.
On 4 October 2016, Hurricane Matthew made landfall in Haiti, resulting in over 500 deaths and causing extensive damage to crops, houses, livestock, and infrastructure.
Currently Haiti is listed as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere..
11,198,240 (July 2021 est.)
Ethnic groups
Black 95%, mixed and White 5%
French (official), Creole (official)
Roman Catholic 54.7%, Protestant 28.5% (Baptist 15.4%, Pentecostal 7.9%, Adventist 3%, Methodist 1.5%, other 0.7%), Vodou 2.1%, other 4.6%, none 10.2% (2003 est.)
Population below poverty line
58.5% (2012 est.)
So, hopefully you can now, once again, see why we need to pay attention to what is happening in the world around us.
The national media loves to keep us in the dark.
We all remember the Haitian refugees huddled under the bridge at the Texas border.
People were asking lots of questions and, just like that, they disappeared. Who were they? Where did they go? Why were they here? Were they refugees or criminal gang members? Better yet, how did they get here?
By ignoring the follow up on the investigation as to the assassination of the Haitian President, and the increased violence in Haiti, have we helped in creating the current immigration and kidnapping crisis?
To me, this is a perfect example of why the United States cannot step back into the world of isolationism.
While we worry about the proper pronouns to use in addressing someone and focus on wokeness in our society, what critical issues are we ignoring on the world stage?
Look at the results of ignoring the Haitian issue. Now think about Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, China, Russia, and North Korea.
Wake up America, before it is too late.