Strikers protest Haiti’s lack of security after kidnappings

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The usually chaotic streets of Haiti’s capital were quiet and largely empty Monday as thousands of workers angry about the nation’s lack of security went on strike in protest two days after 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group were abducted by a violent gang.

American officials including the FBI were working with Haitian authorities to try to secure the release of the 12 adults and five children connected with the Ohiobased Christian Aid Ministries who disappeared Saturday while on a trip to visit an orphanage.

It was the largest reported kidnapping of its kind in recent years. Haitian gangs have grown more brazen amid ongoing political instability, a deepening economic crisis and a spike in violence that is driving more people to flee the country.

Haitian police told The Associated Press the abduction was carried out by the 400 Mawozo gang, a group with a long record of killings, kidnappings and extortion.

As authorities sought the release of the 16 Americans and one Canadian, the strike led by local unions and other organizations disrupted much of daily life. Public transportation drivers stayed home, and businesses and schools were closed.

“The population cannot take it any more,” said Holin Alexis, a moto taxi driver who joined the strike.

Barricades of burning tires closed off some streets in the capital and in other cities, including Les Cayes in southern Haiti, with some people throwing rocks at the occasional car that drove past.

Only a handful of moto taxi drivers like Marc Saint-Pierre zoomed through Port-auPrince looking for customers. He said he was attacked for working on Monday but had no choice.

“I have children, and I have to bring food to my house today.”

The Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation is again struggling with a spike in gang-related kidnappings that had diminished in recent months, after President Jovenel Moïse was fatally shot at his private residence on July 7 and a magnitude 7.2 earthquake killed more than 2,200 people in August.

“Everyone is concerned. They’re kidnapping from all social classes,” Méhu Changeux, president of Haiti’s Association of Owners and Drivers, told Magik9 radio station.

He said the work stoppage would continue until the government could guarantee people’s safety.