Kidnapped by “strangers” at the construction site where he was working in Haiti. Giovanni C., 74, an engineer, was in the country on behalf of the construction company Bonifica Spa, based in Rome: he was just building a road. The kidnapping, which took place this morning, would be attributable to extortion purposes, according to what was leaked tonight from informed sources.
The news was confirmed by the Farnesina. The Crisis Unit of the ministry was immediately activated and is following the case in conjunction with the other competent branches of the State, with the Italian embassy in Panama and with the honorary consul on the spot.
At the time of the kidnapping, along with the compatriot there was also another technician, whose nationality is unknown for now, who may have also been kidnapped, although there is no confirmation in this regard. The kidnapping, said the Italian ambassador in Panama Massimo Ambrosetti, contacted by telephone by ANSA, took place when the two were carrying out surveys in an area of intervention of the project. Giovanni C. is responsible for laying the asphalt on the road connecting the central and northern departments of Haiti.
“Haiti is experiencing an explosion of kidnappings and a condition of insecurity that affects the entire population”, observed Ambassador Ambrosetti, for whom the type of this kidnapping is undoubtedly the same as that seen in the cases that have already occurred. ie for extortion purposes.
According to local sources, the perpetrators are attributed to a well-known local gang called ‘400 Mawozo’, already in the crosshairs of the police, and the place of the kidnapping is a place called Croix des Bouquets.
Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world whose conditions worsened exponentially with the 2010 earthquake, has actually seen the scourge of kidnapping for ransom growth in recent years: 243 in 2020 alone, compared to 78 in the year. previous one. Among the most recent and sensational cases, the kidnapping on 11 April of seven Catholic religious, all forcibly taken from a hotel in the capital Port-au-Prince, by the ‘400 Mawozo’ gang: three Haitian priests and a nun, a French priest and nun, for whom the payment of one million dollars was requested.
Kidnappings have become so common, at all levels, that relatives – as ABC News writes – sometimes spread messages over the radios, pleading not to kill hostages and inviting people to collect collections. And there are common cases of poor people who offer few things, material objects, as a ransom for someone who has ended up in the hands of bandits.
Kidnappers usually ask for amounts ranging from 300,000 to one million dollars. “None of the Haitians have such figures,” Father Jerome, kidnapped and then freed, told ABC.
.