Posted on 10/18/2021 8:56:07 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Authorities in Haiti say that the gang behind most abductions in the Caribbean nation between June and September is also responsible for Saturday's kidnapping of 17 Christian missionaries.
Haitian police inspector Frantz Champagne told The Associated Press that the 400 Mawazoo gang based in the Ganthier area east of the capital of Port-au-Prince abducted the 17 missionaries with the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, 16 of which are American and one Canadian.
"The group of sixteen U.S citizens and one Canadian citizen includes five men, seven women, and five children," the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said in a statement Sunday. "Join us in praying for those who are being held hostage, the kidnappers, and the families, friends, and churches of those affected."
The Christians were abducted from their vehicle as they were traveling to Titanyen after visiting an orphanage in the Croix des Bouquets area, CNN reported.
Local unions and other organizations were planning to launch a strike Monday to protest the country's worsening security situation, the AP said.
Wilson Joseph, who is believed to be the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang, was the subject of a wanted-poster campaign launched by police last year. Joseph faces charges, including murder, kidnap, auto theft and hijacking trucks.
Wilson's nickname is "Lanmò Sanjou," which means "death doesn't know which day it's coming."
The gang was also blamed for kidnapping five priests and two nuns earlier this year.
The gang is responsible for 80% of abductions in the country between June and September, Gédéon Jean, director of the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights in Port-au-Prince, told The Washington Post said.
"As an organization, we commit this situation to God and trust Him to see us through. May the Lord Jesus be magnified and many more people come to know His love and salvation," Christian Aid Ministries assured in a statement released Sunday, quoting Psalm 91.
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust ... For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."
The group, founded in 1981 as a channel for "Amish, Mennonite, and other conservative Anabaptist groups and individuals to minister to physical and spiritual needs around the world," claims to have provided service to 14 million people in 133 countries in 2020.
The impoverished Caribbean nation needs international aid as it struggles in the social and political aftermath of the assassination of President Jouvenal Moïse in July. Haiti is yet to recover from a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 2,200 people in August.
At least 628 kidnappings have been reported in Haiti since January, data released this month by the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights shows. Twenty-nine of those kidnapped have been foreigners.
The Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights reports that kidnappings have increased 300% between July and September, with over 221 kidnappings during that time.
The U.N.'s Integrated Office in Haiti stated in a February report that there were 234 kidnappings in the previous 12 months, an increase of 200% from the previous year.
Haiti has seen an increase in crime since last year.
Authorities in Haiti reported 1,380 killings in 2020.
According to the watchdog group Fondasyon Je Klere, over 150 gangs operate in Haiti.
In April, protesters participated in a "Mass for the freedom of Haiti" at the Church of St. Peter in Pétion-Ville following the kidnapping of the five Catholic priests, two nuns and three laypeople.
Police reportedly fired tear gas at dozens participating in the mass as crowds overflowed into the streets.
See comment #9
No, actually we're just sick and tired of our tax-dollars helping everyone else around the world and enriching the various corrupt groups and politicians using the money while our own nation turn to crap.
Not sure why Napoleon didn't open a can on them when they massacred all the remaining whites & then sold his half of the island to Spain so he can finance his wars.
Self-righteousness is also always acting “fed up with you people”
Sorry I don’t agree with you at all about Haiti.
Empathy being such a costly emotion for you EEE
they are not Satan worshippers
The irony in your post
It’s a mostly Catholic nation of negroid raced folks with cement ties to African .....west African animist religion twisted....they basically incorporate old African spirits into Saints and pray to them like many Catholics do
But the irony is this....most Americans today do not believe in Satan ....I sure as shit do...having seen his handiwork up close in conflict zones and elsewhere
Haitians believe in a Satan who is on this earth...they look to God and the Saints to protect them ....
They are terrified of Satan....they do not worship him....not by any stretch
Illiterate lowly nation fubar since the unfortunate slave revolt where they massacred their brain trust ....and capital...the whites and mulattos
Is not fixable by practical means
But helping them as best we can is in my view appropriate
If you only care for things that affect you personally that’s a dim view of humanity EEE
Many here are like that....I am not never have been
Haitians believe in Christ and fear God much more than average 2021 American
Look at Sunday mass there....I’ve seen it ....dirt poor but they clean up to trot down for lords supper or communion
Wrong again
The DR uses loads of Haitian labor....cane and service industry
As does much of the Caribbean basin
It costs you nothing basically to have empathy for unfortunate folks
No question this is an ugly forum these days
I think it’s gotten too old
And too crotchety
I started in 2000 I was 42
Prolly median age then..
Now I think it’s late 60s
And so much bitter it’s not my problem talk
And lust for the boogaloo
Fat nation will not boogaloo for the record
I don’t claim to know everything about Haiti but I did spend years there employing the peasant super dark Senegalese class
And working with the mulatto class and foreigners too at the various ports
Jacmel
Jeremie
Petit Goave
Gonaives
Miragoane
San Marc
Cap Haitien
Le Cap
And I had to flee surreptitiously in the dark of night from a Mennonite strip to the DR paperless when the guardia was on my tail....never went back
I know the bad parts too..
Where's your empathy for the Jan 6th detainees? I don't give a crap about Haiti or its people.
they are not Satan worshippers
They are.
It’s a mostly Catholic nation of negroid raced folks with cement ties to African
They're the descendants of slaves, who should have gotten a boot up their behinds when they started massacring the remaining French whites left behind. They should have either been deported back to Africa or forced to learn French customs and culture and their nation wouldn't be the craphole it is today. The DR embraced their Spanish/European heritage and are much more better.
They are terrified of Satan....they do not worship him....not by any stretch
So terrified that their nation has a history of corruption, violence, and natural disasters. Obviously whomever they're praying to isn't listening.
Illiterate lowly nation fubar since the unfortunate slave revolt where they massacred their brain trust ....and capital...the whites and mulattos
Yep, and that's why the French cut their losses and told the losers they were on their own. Good thing Jefferson didn't reach out to them either. You don't crap the bed you lay in.
Yeah, out of courtesy. They don't need them, however. They allow some Haitians to work under restrictions so that they can have some semblance of food and income. But they are not reliant on them.
” impoverished Caribbean nation needs international aid as it struggles “
It’s impoverished due to lack of productivity.
It needs international aid because it depends on money from productive countries.
It isn’t struggling very hard. It has energy to kidnap and kill. It has no energy to work productively. It depends on the foolish generosity of other countries.
It's kinda like what Biden is trying to "accomplish" here. People in Haiti have no incentive to work, so nobody does, and the outcome is predictable.
I think that was in Philadelphia, City of Brotherly Love,
You’re an asshole....just plain truth.
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