A group of 12 American and Canadian missionaries kidnapped in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, escaped on their own the captivity in which they were held for more than two months. The information was confirmed by Christian Aid Ministries (CAM), a religious organization, on Monday (20).
The group included a ten-month-old baby, a three-year-old child and two teenagers aged 14 and 15 who fled with eight adults. The hostages managed to escape their guards on December 15, after planning several failed escape attempts.
Weston Showalter, a spokesman for CAM, based in Ohio, USA, told a news conference that the hostages escaped overnight, walking approximately 10 miles “through woods and thickets, amid thorns and nettles.”
The group hid water in their clothes, had to wrap the baby in blankets and carry the two children across difficult terrain while remaining silent despite scratches from bushes and thorns, Showalter said.
Only in the morning did they find a person with a phone who helped them contact authorities. According to CAM, the group was transported back to the US on a Coast Guard flight.
Five of the hostages had already been released between November and early December. The religious organization said it has gathered resources for the rescue of the missionaries to proceed with negotiations, but did not add further details.
The kidnapping took place in October, when the group was returning from an orphanage in the east of the capital, Port-au-Prince. In all, 17 missionaries from the USA and Canada were taken, including their families. The capture was attributed to the 400 Mawozo gang, who asked for a ransom of US$1 million, approximately R$5.74 million, per person.
Days after news of the kidnapping, the FBI, the US federal police, announced that it was sending officers to assist with the investigations. In August, the US government had advised its citizens not to travel to Haiti, due to the risk of kidnapping and the country’s instability.
This type of crime has become a common tool for criminal groups in the region. According to the Center for Analysis and Research on Human Rights in Port-au-Prince, around 630 kidnappings were recorded in the first three quarters of 2021, compared to 231 in the same period in 2020.
The country faces a series of political, economic and social crises. In July, the assassination of then-President Jovenel Moïse sparked protests, with shortages of supplies and cases of street violence. The crime, attributed to mercenaries, resulted in the arrest of 48 people, including 18 Colombians and 2 Americans of Haitian origin.
Furthermore, the social situation in the country was aggravated by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake on August 14th. The quake left more than 2,200 people dead and nearly 130,000 houses damaged.
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