A Haitian man identifying himself as the leader of the gang that kidnapped a group of American and Canadian missionaries said in a video posted on YouTube on Thursday that he was willing to kill “these Americans” if he does not get what he needs.
The speaker in the video, dressed in a purple suit, is recognizable as the man known in Haiti by the alias Lamo Sanjou, the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang that authorities say is behind the abduction of the missionaries at the weekend.
The sixteen Americans and one Canadian – including five children – were on a trip organized by the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries. The missionaries were not present in the video.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm the veracity of the video or when it was made.
Haitian Justice Minister Liszt Quitel told Reuters this week that the kidnappers were demanding $1 million per person for the release of the missionaries.
The missionaries’ seizure has focused global attention on Haiti’s dire kidnapping problem, which has worsened amid economic and political crises in the Caribbean nation that have led to spiraling violence.
The video includes footage of what appear to be five dead men laying in coffins, who the man described as “fallen soldiers,” blaming their deaths on police chief Leon Charles.
Haitian media outlet Le Nouvelliste on Thursday said that Charles had presented his resignation. A Haitian police spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A senior State Department official told reporters that the video was legitimate.
Christian Aid Ministries said it was aware of the video but would not comment until the hostage negotiators determined that any such remarks would not jeopardize the well-being of the group.
The 400 Mawozo began as small-time local thieves and rose to become one of Haiti’s most feared gangs, controlling a swathe of countryside east of the capital Port-au-Prince, according to security experts.
Their leaders – mostly notably Jimmy Cherizier, leader of a gang coalition called G9 – have taken on increasingly public roles, offering extensive interviews broadcast online and at times publicly threatening politicians.
When Prime Minister Ariel Henry attempted on Sunday to lead a ceremony commemorating the death of one of Haiti’s founding-fathers, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, gangs fired shots until his delegation withdrew to hold the ceremony elsewhere.
Cherizier, who goes by the alias ‘Barbecue,’ later emerged in a white suit and made a floral offering at the location of Dessalines’ murder, taking the place of the prime minister.