'Please pray for us!! We are being held hostage': Up to 17 American missionaries and their children are kidnapped by armed gang members in Haiti as one sends a secret WhatsApp message during abduction
A group of Christian missionaries and their family members were kidnapped on Saturday by gang members in Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince.
The missionaries were abducted from a bus headed to the airport to drop off some members of the group before continuing to another destination in Haiti, a report by the New York Times stated, citing security officials from the crisis-engulfed Caribbean nation.
The missionaries — which include 16 Americans, a Canadian citizen and several children — were taken in the area of La Tremblay by what was believed to be members of the 400 Mawozo gang, the Miami Herald reported.
A person familiar with the situation claims one of the abducted Americans posted a cry for help in a WhatsApp group as the kidnapping was occurring.
'Please pray for us!! We are being held hostage, they kidnapped our driver. Pray pray pray. We don't know where they are taking us,' the abductee said.
The US government has been made aware of the kidnapping reports and officials at the American embassy are reportedly looking into the situation.
Meanwhile, thousands of Haitian migrants have fled the country, which is vastly controlled by gangs, and come to the US in the last month. The mass exodus follows the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse who was fatally shot at his private residence on July 7.
Moïse was succeeded by Prime Minister Ariel Henry who claims he has no desire to remain in power but has also delayed the nation's presidential and legislative elections. Henry has also vowed to find the masterminds behind the president's killing.
The missionaries were traveling from the Croix des Bouquets area, where they had been building an orphanage, to the Port-au-Prince airport. They were adducted near Carrefour Boen and La Tremblay 17 on the road to Ganthier
The missionaries were on their way home from building an orphanage in the Croix des Bouquets area when they were abducted on the road to Ganthier, according to Le Nouvelliste.
Heavily armed men had placed roadblocks near Carrefour Boen and La Tremblay 17 between 8 and 10am Saturday. They later kidnapped a bus transporting the missionaries as it passed through the area.
A police source told the newspaper: 'We don't have any other details but they kidnapped a lot of people. Yes, about fifteen Americans were kidnapped today' (translated from French).
Similarly, Pierre Espérance, director of Haiti's National Human Rights Defense Network, told the Washington Post he had been informed of the kidnapping on Saturday by Haitian officials.
However, a spokesperson with Police Nationale d'Haiti claims the department is not able to confirm the abduction.
'Nobody contacted any police station and did not file a complaint either with the DCPJ to denounce the kidnapping of American missionaries,' police spokesperson Marie Michelle Verrier told Gazette Haiti News (translated from French).
A spokesperson with the Department of State told DailyMail.com the US government is also aware of the reports on the kidnapping.
'The welfare and safety of US citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the Department of State,' the spokesperson said, declining further comment.
A gang member in Haiti pictures earlier this year. There has been a spike in kidnappings with the country encountering a huge amount of instability following the assassination of its president and and an earthquake earlier this year
Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, whose staff members returned to the organization's Haitian base in 2020 after bring gone for nearly nine months amid political unrest, sent a voice message identified as a 'prayer alert' to various religious missions.
'This is a special prayer alert. Pray that the gang members would come to repentance,' the voice on the recording said.
The prayer message also states that the mission's field director is working with the US Embassy, and that the field director's family and one other unidentified man stayed at the ministry's base while everyone else visiting the orphanage was abducted.
'The mission field director and the American embassy are working to see what can be done,' the message said. 'Pray that the gang members will come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.'
It is unclear if the abductees were affiliated with Christian Aid Ministries.
Christian Aid Ministries did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment. The US Embassy in Haiti did not respond either.
Also Saturday, a chase reportedly ensued between the Narcotics Trafficking Brigade (BLTS) patrol and the alleged kidnappers.
Gunfire was exchanged between the law enforcement authority and the suspects.
'The patrol engaged this vehicle at avenue Christophe, not far from the FOKAL. A police officer was hit but the patrol continued the pursuit. The thugs' vehicle struck another vehicle between rue Cameau and rue Monseigneur Guilloux. Several of these individuals left wounded. We unfortunately deplore the death of a police officer,' BLTS Inspector Marie Michèle Verrier told Le Nouvelliste (translated from French).
It is unclear if the pursuit took place before or after the abductions.
Haiti is once again struggling with a spike in gang-related kidnappings that had diminished after President Jovenel Moïse was fatally shot at his private residence on July 7, and following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck southwest Haiti in August and killed more than 2,200 people.
Although the safe transportation of people or goods has not been guaranteed in Haiti for over a year, officials say the situation has worsened since Moïse's killing.
The country, which has the highest per-capita kidnapping rate worldwide, has seen kidnappings spike sixfold over the same period last year.
The kidnappers have abducted various individuals including doctors heading to work, preachers delivering sermons, busloads of people in transit, police officers on patrol and more.
Last month, a deacon was killed in front of a church in the capital of Port-au-Prince and his wife kidnapped, one of dozens of people who have been abducted in recent months.
At least 328 kidnapping victims were reported to Haiti's National Police in the first eight months of 2021, compared with a total of 234 for all of 2020, according to a report issued last month the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti known as BINUH.
Abductions dropped briefly after Moïse's assassination, but surged again to 73 in August and to 117 in September.
This year's surge has been so large that Port-au-Prince is now posting more kidnappings in absolute terms than Bogotá, Mexico City and São Paulo combined.
Gangs — which are estimated to control roughly half of Port-au-Prince — have demanded ransoms ranging from thousands of dollars to more than $1 million, according to authorities.
They have been accused of kidnapping schoolchildren, doctors, police officers, busloads of passengers and others as they grow more powerful.
The gang allegedly responsible for the abduction of the 17 missionaries taken Saturday, 400 Mawozo, is known for attacking vehicles.
'This is the type of kidnapping that 400 Mawozo do; we call it a collective kidnapping where they kidnap any entire bus or car,' Gedeon Jean, who runs the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights in Port-au-Prince, told the Miami Herald.
Jean said the notorious gang is responsible for approximately 80 percent of the kidnappings in Haiti.
In fact, in April, the group abducted nine Catholic clergy — including five priests, two nuns and three relatives of a priest — in Port-au-Prince.
As many as 17 Christian Missionaries from the United States have been kidnapped by a gang on Saturday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Pictured, soldiers guard the Public Prosecutor's office in Port-au-Prince (file photo)
Haitian security officials say the group, including children, were kidnapped as they were leaving an orphanage. There could be as many as 100 gangs in Port-au-Prince; no one has an exact count and allegiances often are violently fluid (file photo)
A view of the densely populated Jalousie neighborhood of Port-au-Prince
The abduction prompted a three-day shutdown by Roman Catholic institutions, schools and universities to protest the situation and demand for the eventual release of the group.
'400 Mawozo is kidnapping people every which way; in the Central Plateau, the North, it's the same thing. We are asking all 10 [regional] departments to bring everything in the country to a standstill so that the leaders will take their responsibility,' echoed Mehu Changeux, President of the National Association of Owners and Drivers of Haiti. 'What's happening here concerns the whole society.'
'Political turmoil, the surge in gang violence, deteriorating socioeconomic conditions - including food insecurity and malnutrition - all contribute to the worsening of the humanitarian situation,' BINUH said in its report. 'An overstretched and under-resourced police force alone cannot address the security ills of Haiti.'
On Friday, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to extend the U.N. political mission in Haiti.
The kidnapping of the missionaries comes just days after high-level U.S. officials visited Haiti and promised more resources for Haiti's National Police, including another $15 million to help reduce gang violence, which this year has displaced thousands of Haitians who now live in temporary shelters in increasingly unhygienic conditions.
Among those who met with Haiti's police chief was Uzra Zeya, U.S. under secretary of state for civilian security, democracy, and human rights.
'Dismantling violent gangs is vital to Haitian stability and citizen security,' she recently tweeted.
Meanwhile, a record-shattering number of Haitian migrants have come to the US in the last month, and the trend doesn't appear to be stopping as more people continue to pour into the Colombian town of Necocli, a popular spot for smugglers to shepherd people through the perilous Darien Gap.
The Darien Gap is a 66-mile stretch of rainforest between North and South America. Its dangerous terrain is part of the reason it's been left undeveloped and why it poses such a great risk to the people crossing it now.
More than 70,000 migrants have traveled through the Darien Gap this year, Panamanian authorities have said.
Most of the migrants in recent months have been Haitians, many of whom had been living in Chile and Brazil since the 2010 Haitian earthquake.
Nearly 28,000 Haitian migrants were encountered by Border Patrol agents along the US-Mexico border in Fiscal Year 2021, which ended September 30.
In 2020, the number was 4,395.
Migrants, most from Haiti, depart a base camp towards the jungle in the infamous Darien Gap while on their journey towards the United States on October 7. The number of Haitian migrants heading to the US has skyrocketed in recent weeks
Many of the Haitians now embarking on the dangerous journey to the United States fled their country for South America in 2010, and are now are leaving for the US through towns like Acandi in Colombia and trekking across the Darien Gap. The COVID-19 pandemic has been blamed for upending much of South and Central America's economy, forcing people already in a precarious position into desperation
Last month around 15,000 mostly Haitian migrants camped near a bridge in Del Rio, Texas.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at the time, 'It is unprecedented for us to see that number of people arrive in one discrete point along the border in such a compacted period of time.'
Images of the cramped, squalid tent city they were living in prompted a humanitarian outcry against the Biden administration.
Last week the Washington Examiner reported that border officials are bracing for an incoming surge of as many as 60,000 Haitian migrants.
Haitians are fleeing their homeland as violence continues to spike and the nation faces political uncertainty.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry assumed office after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, replacing Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph.
The two allegedly fought for power in the days following Moïse's July 7 slaying before they reached an agreement and Henry took the reigns at the end of July.
Henry announced just last month that he plans to hold a referendum to modify the country's constitution by February, and he hopes to organize presidential and legislative elections early next year.
He has also dismissed opponents who accuse him of wanting to stay in power and said that mistrust is one of the biggest challenges he faces.
'The elections must be held as soon as possible,' he said as he lamented the lack of trust among Haitians. 'People don't believe what is being said.'
Haitians are fleeing their homeland as violence continues to spike and the nation faces political uncertainty. Prime Minister Ariel Henry (pictured) said last month that he plans to hold a referendum to modify the country's constitution by February and he hopes to organize presidential and legislative elections early next year
After being postponed several times this year, presidential and legislative elections were scheduled to be held on November 7, along with the constitutional referendum.
The elections appear to have been postponed again, and an electoral council that will be responsible for setting dates has yet to be named after Henry recently dissolved the previous provisional council.
Henry also said another one of his priorities is to find the masterminds behind Moïse's killing.
The prime minister said he does not know why the president was slain and has dismissed allegations made by a chief prosecutor, whom he fired, that there were two phone calls between him and a key suspect just hours after the assassination.
Henry said he has no recollection of speaking with Joseph Badio, who was fired from the government's anti-corruption unit in May and remains a fugitive, according to police, who seek him on charges including murder.
'If that conversation took place, I do not remember it,' he said.
'For me, that conversation never happened.'
Henry said he dismissed Port-au-Prince's chief prosecutor, Bed-Ford Claude, and former justice minister Rockfeller Vincent, because they did not respect the law and tried to politicize the situation.
'They don't have any ethics, and they are not credible,' he said.
No comments: