Time is running out for the 17 Haiti missionaries who are being held hostage, according to the gang leader behind their abduction.
Joseph Wilson, who heads the 400 Mawozo gang, appeared in a video released on Thursday, threatening to kill the missionaries if he does not get the $17 million ransom, $1 million per hostage, that he demanded for their release.
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“I swear by thunder that if I don’t get what I’m asking for, I will put a bullet in the heads of these Americans,” Wilson said in the video.
Haitian police negotiators and the FBI are involved in resolving the kidnapping. Of the 17 hostages, five are minors, including an 8-month-old infant, a 3-year-old, a 6-year-old, and two young teenagers, CNN reported.
The missionaries are from the Ohio-based group Christian Aid Ministries. They were kidnapped by the Mawozo 400 gang on Saturday as they returned from a visit to an orphanage.
The Mawozo gang has earned a reputation for targeting religious groups and has been blamed for 80% of abductions in Haiti from June through September. In April, the gang kidnapped five priests and two nuns, with Catholic universities and schools closing in protest.
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Christian Aid Ministries did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
