Meanwhile, in Haiti, kidnappers are demanding $1 million each for the safe release of 16 American and 1 Canadian missionaries taken hostage earlier this week:
The gang that kidnapped a group of 17 American and Canadian missionaries in Haiti has asked for $1 million each for their release, a top Haitian official said, according to the Wall Street Journal. https://t.co/l0w5CjsO6e
— CNN (@CNN) October 19, 2021
The FBI is reportedly in negotiations with the kidnappers:
A Haitian gang is demanding $1 million for each of the 16 Americans it kidnapped and the FBI is negotiating.
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe pulls back the curtain on hostage negotiations. pic.twitter.com/FMSbBDzWBX
— Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) October 19, 2021
According to reports, the group behind the hostage-taking is “400 Mazow”:
#Haiti|an kidnappers demand $17M for 17 missionaries they abducted.
▪️According to Haitian justice minister, kidnapper "400 Mazowo" group who is notorious for abducting people for ransom, has demanded $1M for each of the 17 people it's holding. pic.twitter.com/54fc2rCW1o
— EHA News (@eha_news) October 19, 2021
There are five children among the hostages, too:
News that an armed Haitian gang kidnapped 17 members of an Ohio-based missionary group — including five children — on Saturday once again pushed Haiti into the center of an international crisis. https://t.co/MCZP6REeXI
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 18, 2021
But don’t worry. Brandon is ON THE CASE:
President Joe Biden has been briefed of the missionaries who had been kidnapped in Haiti and the FBI is part of a coordinated U.S. government effort to get the U.S. citizens to safety, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said https://t.co/AltwxFeOYN pic.twitter.com/ByA5MKwz4E
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 19, 2021
And there’s growing talk of sending in international forces to quell the violence:
Haiti’s deteriorating security climate, reflected in the weekend’s kidnappings, and the inability of its weak government and police force to control a proliferating gang problem has raised the specter of another intervention by foreign forces. https://t.co/gvSxmOcH3j
— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) October 19, 2021
***