FBI, US embassy working to obtain release of Americans kidnapped in Haiti

The FBI, State Department and other US agencies have dispatched a team to assist Haitian authorities in their efforts to safely release a group of missionaries kidnapped by a gang in the troubled country, US officials said.

Seventeen people, including 16 US citizens, were kidnapped by a gang at a checkpoint in Haiti on Saturday during an airport operation, sources told ABC News.

The kidnappings have brought Haiti back into the spotlight after months of turbulent months, including a devastating earthquake and an assassination attempt on the president – although gang violence and the use of kidnappings to extort ransom have plagued the Haitian people for years.

President Joe Biden has been briefed on the kidnappings and “what the State Department and FBI are doing to get these people home safely,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.

The team of US officials is working on site with the Haitian National Police, while the US embassy in Port-au-Prince is in “constant contact” with the Haitian authorities, the Christian Aid Ministries mission group and the victims’ family members State Department, Ned Price.

The Haitian government suspects the gang known as the 400 Mawozo were responsible for the kidnappings, according to a source from the Haitian Presidential Office. Price declined to say whether US officials had been in contact with the group.

Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries issued a statement confirming that a group of 17 people, including five children, were “kidnapped” on Saturday while on a trip to an orphanage. In addition to the Americans, the group includes a Canadian.

“The civil authorities in Haiti and the United States know what has happened and are offering help. We are continuing to monitor the situation closely and pray earnestly,” the mission group said in a statement on Monday.

“The kidnappers, like all human beings, are made in the image of God and can be changed when they turn to Him, the only true source of peace, joy and forgiveness,” they added.

Haiti has seen a surge in gang violence in recent years amid political and civil unrest in its government, particularly after the July assassination of President Jovenel Mose – the controversial leader accused of causing a constitutional crisis. Just weeks after a successor – US-backed Ariel Henry – was sworn in, Haiti suffered a major 7.2 earthquake in August, killing over 2,200 people.

“They have added poverty to repeated earthquakes measuring 7.0 and above over the years, and it has been just brutal and very difficult for the Haitian people to establish not only the rule of law but basic functions of society as well” said Col. retired Stephen Ganyard, an ABC News employee and former assistant secretary of state.

Haiti leads the world with the highest per capita kidnapping rate. There were at least 628 kidnappings this year, including 29 foreigners, and nearly 800 in 2020, according to the Haitian Center for Human Rights Analysis and Research. Ganyard said Westerners and Americans are increasingly easier targets because they “feel like they are.” it can”. probably afford to pay. “

The 400 Mawozo group was responsible for most of the kidnappings, the center’s director Gédéon Jean told the Washington Post, including the alleged kidnapping of two French priests on the same day. The group is notorious for its violent tactics and for shamelessly cracking down on clergy and churches – particularly controversial in the predominantly Catholic Haiti.

In light of this surge in kidnappings, the Biden government announced an additional $ 15 million for the Haitian National Police in recent weeks, of which $ 12 million will go to anti-gang violence, according to Price.

ABC News’s Ben Gittleson and Aicha el Hammar contributed to this report.

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