The boss of a notorious Haitian gang accused of kidnapping 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group last weekend is warning that the hostages will be killed if his demands aren't met.
The Associated Press
Officials said early in the week that the 400 Mawozo gang was demanding $1 million for each of those kidnapped, although it wasn’t clear if that included the five children in the group, among them an 8-month-old. Sixteen Americans and one Canadian were abducted, along with their Haitian driver. Weston Showalter, spokesman for the religious group, said the families of those kidnapped are from Amish, Mennonite and other conservative Anabaptist communities in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Ontario, Canada. He read a letter from the families, who weren’t identified by name, in which they said, “God has given our loved ones the unique opportunity to live out our Lord’s command to love your enemies.
“Many people in the community feel helpless, but they also realize the power of prayer and the power of our historic theology,” including the Anabaptist belief in nonresistance to violence, said Marcus Yoder, executive director of the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center in Millersburg. Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators blocked roads and burned tires in Haiti’s capital to protest a severe fuel shortage and a spike in insecurity and to demand that the prime minister step down.