Haiti: the 17 foreign hostages threatened with death by the leader of a gang
According to a Haitian security source, the kidnappers of North American citizens have claimed a million dollars in ransom per person.
Richard PIERRIN AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
In Haiti, the insecurity caused by gangs is plunging further into chaos every day.
The country has already recorded more than 119 kidnappings since the beginning of October, which is already more than what had been recorded for the whole month of September.
The exponential upsurge in villainous kidnappings continues and in a short film, the leader of the gang who kidnapped the 17 North American citizens on Saturday October 16 is threatening to execute them today.
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With our correspondent in Port-au-Prince,
Amélie Baron
The video was broadcast Thursday, October 21 on social networks but the scene took place on Wednesday.
In front of the coffins where the corpses of five of his men are placed, killed by the police according to him, Wilson Joseph, leader of the gang called "400 mawozo" is brief but his words are unambiguous: he says that if he "does
" not get what he needs, he will kill the Americans
”.
► Read also:
Insecurity in Haiti: strike and negotiations to free 17 hostages continue
An exorbitant ransom
It has been six days since a group of missionaries and members of their families were abducted in the area controlled by this armed gang.
Sixteen US citizens and one Canadian national, including five children, the youngest of whom is only eight months old.
According to a security source, the kidnappers of these North American citizens have claimed a million dollars in ransom per person.
► To read also:
Haiti: the discreet Biden administration on the kidnapping of sixteen Americans
The gangs, which have been increasing kidnappings since this summer and of which Haitians are the first victims, do not hesitate to demand such ransoms of tens, hundreds of thousands of dollars, even if the families of their hostages live below the poverty line. .
And when the negotiations last too long to the taste of the kidnappers or when they judge that the sums paid are insufficient, it unfortunately happens that the kidnapped people are killed.
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