On October 16, 2021, seventeen missionaries working for the Christian Aid Ministries compound were kidnapped in Titanyen, Haiti. The hostages include sixteen Americans and one Canadian, five of which are children.
The missionaries were kidnapped by a street gang called the 400 Mawazo. The gang came into power after the Haitian president, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated in July. The assassination threw Haiti into anarchy, with Haitian government officials fighting each other for control over the country. The 400 Mawazo took advantage of this power vacuum; they now control Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. Titanyen, where the missionaries were abducted, is a suburban town in Port-au-Prince. The gang is responsible for 60% of kidnappings in the area.
The United States government is working on obtaining the hostages’ release. The 400 Mawazo gang is demanding a $17 million ransom. The U.S government is not allowed to pay this ransom as doing so would be considered funding a terrorist group, which is illegal. Instead, a crisis team will attempt to negotiate the hostages’ releases. In a press conference, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, stated that the White House is coordinating with the F.B.I. and State Department.
The Haitian police are unable to control gang activity. They are underpaid, overworked and lack funding from the Haitian government. Although the Haitian police force is ineffective, Haitians are overwhelmingly against foreign intervention for several reasons, including the failure of the United Nation’s ability to help during the 2010 earthquakes that ravaged the country. Instead of aid, the Haitians were left with a cholera epidemic from international crisis teams. Despite the Haitian peoples’ unwillingness to receive foreign aid, the U.S deployed a team in Haiti.
Attempts to liberate the missionaries have been fruitless so far. In fact, the situation has gotten worse. A video was recorded at a 400 Mawazo funeral for five gang members who were killed on October 21. Hundreds of people attended. At the funeral, the leader of the 400 Mawazo gang, Wilson Joseph, threatened the lives of the kidnapped missionaries. He stated, “I prefer that thunder burns me, if I don’t get what I need. You see those Americans, I will prefer to kill them and I will unload a big weapon to each of their heads.” He has yet to follow through on this threat and all of the missionaries are still believed to be alive.
At the time of writing, the U.S government is still negotiating with the 400 Mawazo gang. Crisis teams are doing their best to get the missionaries out alive and well. Hopefully, they will succeed.
