All From Ohio Based Missionary Group Freed In Haiti, Police Say

Armed forces secure the area where Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry placed a bouquet of flowers in front of a memorial to independence hero Jean-Jacques Dessalines in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Sunday. Haitian police are working with U.S. officials and are in contact with the kidnappers who abducted a group of American-based missionaries on Saturday.

Odelyn Joseph

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AP

What we know about the 17 missionaries kidnapped in Haiti by a notorious gang

Deepa Shivaram

Sixteen members of Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries are U.S. citizens, including 5 children. The 400 Mawazo gang that took the group specializes in mass kidnappings and seeks a $17 million ransom.

A view down a busy street in Port au Prince, Haiti. Kidnappings in the country have already been worse in 2021 than years before.

Owen Franken

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Getty Images

Haiti's kidnapping crisis is plunging the country even further into turmoil

Deepa Shivaram

Seventeen missionaries were kidnapped by an armed gang in Haiti on Saturday. It was the latest in what experts are calling a kidnapping crisis in the country — a crisis largely driven by one gang.

A girl waits with other earthquake victims for the start of a food distribution in Les Cayes, Haiti, in August, a week after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the area.

Matias Delacroix

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AP

Abductions have increased in Haiti, but religious aid groups are still going there

Laurel Wamsley

A gang is demanding millions of dollars in ransom for 17 kidnapped missionaries. Faith-based humanitarian groups say their work demands balancing risk with the need to serve the most vulnerable.

People protest carrying a banner with a message that reads in Creole: "No to kidnappings, no to violence against women ! Long live Christian Aid Ministries," demanding the release of kidnapped missionaries, in Titanyen, north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. A group of 17 U.S. missionaries including children was kidnapped by a gang in Haiti on Oct. 16.

Joseph Odelyn

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AP

Haiti Gang Leader Threatens To Kill Kidnapped Missionaries

Associated Press

The leader of the 400 Mawozo gang that Haitian police say kidnapped 17 members of a missionary group is seen in a new video saying he will kill them if he doesn’t get what he is demanding.

This Oct. 21, 2021, photo shows a sign outside Christian Aid Ministries in Titanyen, Haiti, which had 17 of their members kidnapped by the 400 Mawozo gang. Two of 17 abducted members of a missionary group have been freed in Haiti and are safe, “in good spirits and being cared for,” their Ohio-based church organization, Christian Aid Ministries, announced Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021.

Matias Delacroix

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AP

Ohio Missionary Group Says 3 More Abductees Freed In Haiti

The Associated Press

A Millersburg-based church organization said three additional abducted members of a missionary group have been freed in Haiti. In November, the religious organization announced that the gang had released the first two hostages.