Armed gang kidnaps US and Canadian missionaries

A group of 17 missionaries, including five children, have been kidnapped by an armed criminal gang in Haiti. The group – 16 Americans and one Canadian – were on their way home from building an orphanage, according to a statement from the Ohiobased Christian Aid Ministries.

The notorious 400 Mawozo gang – known for brazen kidnappings and killings in the region – kidnapped the group in Ganthier, Haitian police inspector Frantz Champagne said.

The group was reportedly taken last Saturday morning while some of the missionaries were travelling to Port-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture airport to return home.

On Sunday, the country’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, was forced to flee an official commemoration in the capital by heavily armed gang members who then paraded in his delegation’s place. Video on social media showed the country’s most notorious crime boss, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, officiating at the ceremony to commemorate the assassination of JeanJacques Dessalines, one of Haiti’s revolutionary founding fathers.