KIDNAPPINGS INCREASING AT ALARMING RATE

by Jim Uttley, Jr.
Special correspondent to ASSIST News Service

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (ANS) -- Incidences of random violence, kidnappings and murder are increasing at an alarming rate in Haiti.  In the last month, three individuals have been abducted and held for ransom.  This has  affected evangelical and Mormon missionaries as well as a Haitian-Canadian businessman.

Three weeks ago, Pharest St. Paul, son of a retired Christian worker with the Evangelical Baptist Mission of South Haiti (MEBSH), was kidnapped and held for ransom.

St. Paul, who hasn't been seen since his capture, is the second son of Berlin St. Paul, former administrator of Centre Medicale Lumiere, a clinic operated by the MEBSH at their mission center, located outside Les Cayes, Haiti's third largest city.

According to unnamed sources, he was beaten and left to die, but revived. This was the last report on his condition.  While there have been conflicting reports as to his condition, most believe that since no ransom money was paid, his captors probably killed him.

Prior to his abduction, two Mormon missionaries were taken in the town of Petit Goave, on the southwestern coast 40 miles from Port-au-Prince. On December 6th, a letter was left under the gate at the home of George and  Lois Poston.  Written in Creole, the letter demanded $20,000 U.S. or "Lois would be taken and both would be killed." The American Citizens Service at the U.S. Embassy was called and Postons were told to bring the letter and come talk to the U.S. officials.

The Embassy officials indicated that there have been several kidnappings in Haiti recently and some were Americans.  The Embassy told the Postons to take the letter seriously and leave the country as soon as possible. They  were on that afternoon's American Airlines flight to Miami.

According to George Poston, he could not think of any reason for the letter.  He stated that the envelope had written the "G" in George as a "J", which is how G is written in the Haitian language.

Kent Ragsdale, veteran missionary and neighbor to the Postons said, "When the kidnappings were off in other cities and far from us, it was something to be concerned about, but now with this only a block away and missionaries we know very well, it hits us very hard.  We feel we must have the prayers of God's people to ask God to set a hedge with angels around us to protect us."

In a related story, a Haitian news reporter working for independent Echo 2000, was hacked to death with machetes on December 3, 2001, in the town of Petit Goave.  At his funeral, mourners and protestors demonstrating against the increasing violence confronted police who used tear gas and fired guns into the air to disperse the crowds.

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