Calls in Haiti for release of abducted US missionary group

"We call for the liberation of the persons kidnapped, whether American citizens or of other nationalities," said Gedeon Jean, director of the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights, based in the capital. He said the current situation was "detrimental to human dignity."
The group of 15 to 17 people, including children and by some accounts one Canadian, were kidnapped while on their way back from a visit to an orphanage some 30 kilometers (20 miles) east of the capital, a Haitian security source told AFP.
Some members of the Ohio-based missionary group were on their first trip to Haiti, the source said.
They are being held by the so-called "400 Mawozo" gang, which for months has carried out kidnappings and robberies in the area between Port-au-Prince and the Dominican Republic border, said the source, who spoke on grounds of anonymity.
The gang has hijacked several vehicles -- even entire busloads of victims -- on roads it controls, kidnapping both  Haitians and foreigners and holding them for ransoms often many times a Haitian's yearly earnings.
"The police have proven incapable of confronting the gangs, which have become better organized and which control more and more territory" around the capital and in provincial cities, Jean said.
His group has tallied an alarming increase in kidnappings in Haiti: more than 600 occurred in the first three months of 2021, up sharply from 231 in the corresponding period of 2020.
The kidnapping of the missionary group occurred Saturday morning on roads controlled by the Mawozo group. In addition to the Americans, an unknown number of Haitians were abducted.
The US State Department offered no details. A spokesperson said only: "The welfare and safety of US citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the Department of State. 
"We are aware of these reports and have nothing additional to offer at this time."