Haiti Missionary Kidnappers Demand $17M Ransom

HAITI MISSIONARY KIDNAPPERS DEMAND $17M. Haiti’s 400 Mawozo gang leader Wilson Joseph has demanded $1 million each as ransom for the 17 missionaries. Most of them come from Amish, Mennonite and other conservative Anabaptist backgrounds. In fact, five are children, the youngest 8 months old.

Standing over open coffins of apparently recently killed gang members, Joseph threatened to execute the 17. Meanwhile, their families preached forgiveness for the kidnappers and prayed for all kidnapped Haitians. In all, they numbered 600 in the first nine months of 2021, and 231 over the same period last year.

Haitian gangs are holding the kidnapped for ransoms as low as a US dollar or even less. The $17 million counts as the biggest asking price yet. But only yesterday, friends & relatives of a US pastor and a church member paid $550,000 for their release. Specifically, the 79-year-old pastor Jean Pierre Ferrer Michel and congregant Norman Weiner of Jesus Center were kidnapped on Oct. 3, by gang members dressed in Haitian police uniforms.

Wave of protests follow wave of kidnappings

Schools and most businesses in Port-aux-Prince closed for several days in protest of the wave of kidnappings. In fact, they have increased since the assassination of the previous president Jovenal Moise in July. Now 400 Mawozo’s Wilson is threatening Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry and Chief of Police Leon Charles.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says he continues to brief President Biden daily on the crisis. Moreover, three FBI agents and other law enforcement specialists are working in Haiti on the recovery of the 17 hostages.