The ministry confirmed that 16 US citizens and one person from Canada were abducted on Saturday in the region of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. “The well-being and safety of US citizens abroad is one of the State Department’s top priorities,” it said.
The aid organization Christian Aid Ministries had previously stated that twelve adults and five children had been abducted by criminals. According to a report on television station CNN, the group was on their way from an orphanage in Croix des Bouquets on the eastern edge of Port-au-Prince to Titanyen, north of the Haitian capital, when they were abducted by members of an armed gang.
Haiti, the poorest country on the American continent, has been plagued by political chaos and criminal violence for years. At the beginning of July, President Jovenel Moïse was shot in his residence, the background remains unclear to this day. The gang mischief scares residents and visitors alike. The region where the missionaries were abducted is controlled by gang 400 Mawozo, reported the newspaper “Le Nouvelliste”, citing police circles. The gang abducted ten priests, nuns and family members of a clergyman in April. The abductees were later released.