A spokesman for the U.S. State Department, Vedant Patel, confirmed Thursday that two Americans have been kidnapped in Haiti and that diplomatic personnel are in «regular» contact with the Caribbean country’s authorities.
«We are in regular contact with the Haitian authorities and will continue to work with them and our U.S. government interagency partners,» Patel said at a press conference, without providing further details for security reasons.
The couple, Abigail and Jean-Dickens Toussaint, both 33 years old, were reportedly kidnapped on March 18 in the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, which for months has been the scene of a very serious security crisis due to the activities of criminal gangs.
The couple went to Haiti to visit family and attend a festival, but were abducted on their bus trip from the capital, according to a woman named Christie, who claims to be the victims’ niece.
The kidnappers initially demanded US$6,000 (€5,500) for their release, an amount the family managed to pay before the criminals changed their minds and demanded a much higher ransom of US$200,000 (€185,000), which the relatives considered unaffordable.
The State Department spokesman stated earlier that he was aware of «reports of two missing Americans» in Haiti, although he did not confirm the kidnapping and only stated that, in the event of any possible disappearance, Washington «is working closely with local authorities».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
