US 'will do everything it can' to save kidnapped missionaries in Haiti: US Secretary
Oct 20, 2021
Quito [Ecuador] October 20 : US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday (local time) informed that Washington will do everything it can to free the missionaries kidnapped in Haiti.
Blinken said that the US is mulling to send a team to Haiti from the State Department to work closely with Haitian Police, churches and the government.
"We had an illustration reliantly focused on this [kidnapping]," Blinken said during a press conference adding that the "US will do everything that we can to resolve the situation".
Blinken's remarks came after 16 Christian missionaries from the US and one Canadian citizen were kidnapped on Saturday by a gang in Port-au-Prince.
Officials have informed that missionaries were abducted while traveling to Titanyen, north of the capital Port-au-Prince, after visiting an orphanage in the Croix des Bouquets area.
One of the abducted missionaries, an American citizen, posted a call for help in a WhatsApp group as the kidnapping was occurring, The Washington Post reported.
Haiti has been witnessing kidnappings of the rich and poor alike and some violent incidents also due to political upheaval for years in the country.
But the kidnappings of the US missionaries have shocked everyone. Violence is rising across the capital Port-au-Prince. Some estimates suggest that gangs now control roughly half of the city.
