Street gangs hold up to half of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Gangs intercept entire buses at a time.
Gang demands a total of $ 17 million in ransom, one million abducted, from 17 missionaries abducted in Haiti on Saturday.
The United States has sent federal agents to Haiti to get the abductees safely home. The principle of the United States is not to pay a ransom for the abductees.
The abductees are missionaries and their families. They were returning from a visit from the orphanage on Saturday when a street gang hijacked their car. Of those abducted, 16 are U.S. citizens and one is a Canadian citizen.
Five of the abductees are children. The youngest is just an eight-month-old baby, the rest are 3 to 15 years old. In addition to them, an unknown number of Haitians were abducted, according to AFP news agency.
The Haitian justice minister said the kidnappers called authorities immediately on Saturday to report the demands, and contacts have continued since then.
Interception is just one example of the crime that plagues Haiti.
More than 600 people have been abducted in Haiti this year, up from 261 in the same period last year, says British Broadcasting Corporation BBC.
Criminal gangs kidnap young, old, children, Haitians and foreigners to get money. Saturday’s kidnapping is suspected of 400 street gangs called Muwaza, who have taken a dominant position this year. It fights almost daily with the police and security forces.
Formerly known as the Reserve League, the 400 Muwaza specializes in abductions and specifically those where it captures a large number of people at once by hijacking an entire bus. Saturday’s abduction was thus a prime example of gang activity.
Haiti the police are quite powerless against criminal gangs. According to The New York Times perhaps about half of the capital, Port-au-Prince, is gang-controlled.
The 400 Muwaza gang is believed to be holding prisoners in the Croix-des-Bouquets district of the capital, Port-au-Prince, under their control. The gang usually takes the people they kidnapped there, says the Haitian justice minister Flour Quitel news channel for CNN.
“The gang has places where it usually holds its hostages so it can feel the abductors are safe,” Quitel said.
According to Quitel, the gang has been warned not to harm their hostages. According to him, the kidnappers remain in their demands and do not seem particularly nervous.
400 The Croix-des-Bouquets district, controlled by Muwaza, has become almost a ghost town where people no longer dare to live.
crime is part of the many problems that plague Haiti. Poverty and the political crisis are fueling crime and vice versa.
A general strike is currently under way in Haiti, and Haitians have protested against abductions and chaos.
The problem is that there is no one who can meet the demands of the protesters.
President of Haiti Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July. The political vacuum can only be seen to deepen the spiral as armed groups fight for control of the country.
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