An American couple who was visiting ailing family member and to prepare for Rara festival in Haiti was abducted, as confirmed by the State Department
Married couple and US citizens Jean-Dickens Toussaint, an accountant, and wife Abigail Michael Toussaint, a social worker, along with another unidentified person were snatched off a public bus and kidnapped in Haiti last March 18.
This is just one from the 101 gang-related kidnappings in the area for the first two weeks of March alone, as reported by the United Nations.
The kidnappers are holding the couple for ransom, demanding $200,000 for each, relatives stated.
"How are we ever going to come up with that money? To the gangs, I want to say, we want our family back. We are not rich over here," Nikese Toussaint, sister of Jean-Dickens, expressed Monday to the Associated Press in a phone interview.
Not the first time for the family
Since the abduction occurred, her brother has only been allowed to make two brief calls.
As of writing, all the family knows is that the couple is tied up. The phone calls are too short to know if they are being treated well or provided with food and water.
It turned out that this is not the first time that the Toussaints have been involved in a gang-kidnapping incident. Seventeen years ago, the gangs had abducted two of Nikese's cousines at Port-au-Prince, which is 60 percent controlled by gangs, according to the U.N, though Haitians on the streets declare a hundred percent control. Her cousins were eventually released yet remain to be traumatized up until now, VOA News narrated.
The family recently paid a trusted individual $6,000 to offer to the gang. Unfortunately, the money disappeared. According to the family, it is not unusual that the kidnappers would refuse release of the victims despite being paid, but the Toussaints firmly believe the payment vanishing was a scam.
Following that incident, the family knew that they needed to get help from the government as they did not want to take any more risks or release any more money.
They have already been in touch with the FBI, which is currently helping them with the case.
Haiti: On constant violence since 2021
"We are in regular contact with Haitian authorities and we'll continue to work with them and our U.S. government interagency partners," assured Vedant Patel, State Department spokesperson, in a briefing.
Since the beginning of the year up until March 15, there were already 53 people killed, 300 injured and 277 kidnapped due to gang-related incidents that happened mainly in Port-au-Prince, as stated by data from the Human Rights Service of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti.
Aside from the 101 individuals kidnapped In the first two weeks of March alone, there have already been 164 injured and 208 killed.
According to CBS News, most of the victims are Haitian, and kidnappers pressure the victims' families into giving large amounts of money for their release.
Following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, Haiti has experienced a strong surge of violence with all of its gang wars and political chaos.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry, the unelected successor as head of the government, has been seeking help from the United Nations to lead a military intervention. However, no country yet has been willing to put their men on the battlefield.
The Toussaints remain hopeful and strong, especially that they are taking care of the couple's two-year-old son who just had his birthday last Tuesday.
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