The latest: Haitian police inspector Frantz Champagne identified the 400 Mawozo gang as the group responsible, in a statement to AP.
- The group has "sown terror" in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince for months, engaging in kidnappings and armed combat with other gangs, the New York Times noted.
- A voice recording from the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, described as a "prayer alert," said that the "mission field director and the American embassy are working to see what can be done," The Washington Post reports.
- A security official told AFP news agency that the "armed gang" that abducted the group of "between 15 and 17" Americans had for months "been engaged in theft and kidnappings."
- The spokesperson added that the "welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities" of the department.
- Pierre Espérance, director of Haiti's National Human Rights Defense Network, told WashPost that Haitian officials had informed him on Saturday that "an unknown number of American missionaries had been kidnapped."
- A rights group in Port-au-Prince reported abductions surged from 73 in August to 117 in September, per WashPost, which notes the country has the "highest per capita kidnapping rate on Earth."
- While it was not immediately clear why the Americans were taken, abductions have affected all social classes in Haiti in recent weeks — with kidnappers demanding anything from $100 to six figures in ransom, WashPost reports.
RC