Negotiations drag on over 17 missionaries kidnapped in Haiti

By DÁNICA COTO and PIERRE-RICHARD LUXAMA
Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Negotiations are stretching into a fourth day seeking the return of 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group kidnapped over the weekend in Haiti by a gang that is demanding $1 million ransom per person. The group includes five children whose ages range from 8 months to 15 years, but a top Haitian official said Tuesday that authorities are not clear whether the ransom amount includes them. Sixteen of the abductees are Americans and one Canadian. The abduction is one of at least 119 kidnappings recorded in Haiti for the first half of October, according to the Center of Analysis and Research of Human Rights, a local nonprofit group. It says a Haitian driver was abducted along with the missionaries.