As negotiators worked to secure the release of 17 people associated with an Ohio-based missionary group, their kidnappers released a video threatening their lives.<\/b>
\nThe leader of the Haitian gang that is holding 17 people associated with an American missionary group has threatened to kill the hostages if its ransom demands are not met, according to two people present when the threat was made and captured in a video recording. \u201cI prefer that thunder burns me, if I don\u2019t get what I need. You see those Americans, I will prefer to kill them and I will unload a big weapon to each of their heads,\u201d the leader of the gang known as 400 Mawozo, Wilson Joseph, said in the video. \u201cI mean what I said, that\u2019s it.\u201d Mr. Joseph was speaking to a crowd of hundreds of gang members in the open, on the streets of Croix-des-Bouquet, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti\u2019s capital, according to two people present when the remarks were made. The brazenness of the remarks, made in public at a large gathering as American officials work with their Haitian counterparts to free the hostages, underscores the growing clout and confidence of Haiti\u2019s gangs, which control much of the capital. The threat was contained in a video circulating on Thursday in Haiti, where 16 Americans and one Canadian working with the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries were abducted on Saturday. It emerged as the F.B.I. and the State Department worked to secure the release of the hostages, five of whom are children. Earlier this week, the kidnappers demanded $1 million for each hostage. But in Haiti, where kidnapping is rife, the initial ransom demand often bears no resemblance to what is finally negotiated. The video, shot on the street in Croix-des-Bouquet where the hostages were taken, was confirmed by a person who recorded the video and another who was present when the threat was issued. The video shows Mr. Joseph at the funeral of several gang members who had been killed in a confrontation with the police. Mr. Joseph is dressed in a purplish-blue suit, wearing a metal cross and holding a wide-brimmed hat. Mr. Joseph uses the gang name Lanm\u00f2 Sanjou, which roughly translates from Creole as \u201cno day to die.\u201d In the video, Mr. Joseph is standing next to a man in a white jacket, the leader of a gang controlling another neighborhood, underscoring the troubling alliances the armed criminal groups are forging to confront the weak and underequipped Haitian police. By some estimates, gangs control about half of Port-au-Prince and its suburbs. The U.S. government has a team on the ground in Haiti working with the American Embassy and the local authorities to recover the hostages, White House and law enforcement officials have said.<\/p>\n