little haiti gang?

Answer 1

The Gangs have taken over Port-au-Prince .
People are getting kidnapped each day on the airport road.



PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Quesnel Durosier walked out of a bank with $3,500 tucked into his sock, buoyed by thoughts of his upcoming wedding.

Seconds later, a car cut him off, gunmen sprang out and shoved him into the car along with a woman passerby.

What followed was a nightmare of torture and death threats for these latest victims of a wave of attacks that has made impoverished Haiti the kidnapping capital of the Americas.

Police and an 8,860-strong UN peacekeeping force have pledged to restore security, which evaporated after the February 2004 rebellion that toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

But kidnappings have skyrocketed, and as Jan. 8 presidential and parliamentary elections approach, stemming the kidnappings is an "absolute priority," said Damian Onses-Cardona, the United Nations spokesman in Haiti.

The peacekeepers have been trying for months to penetrate the vast Cite Soleil slum, where gangs stash many of their hostages.

Thirty kidnappings were reported in Haiti in November, and 30 during the first week of December, said police spokesman Frantz Lerebours.

Recent victims include 14 schoolchildren abducted on their school bus in December, and Emmanuel Cantave, a prominent leader of Aristide's Lavalas Family party.

Another was Phillip Snyder, a U.S. missionary shot in an ambush and seized along with a Haitian boy he was taking to Michigan for eye surgery. All were eventually released after ransoms were paid.

Eight to 10 people are abducted every day in Haiti, more than any other country in the Americas, said Judy Orihuela, an FBI spokeswoman in Miami.

In 2005 45 U.S. citizens have been reported kidnapped in Haiti,

All Durosier knows is that his abductors wanted money.

He was brought to a house outside Port-au-Prince and tied to a chair. The kidnappers quickly found his wedding savings.

His abductors released him in the countryside.

The woman's identity and fate remain unknown.