CBS News has confirmed the FBI is helping with hostage negotiations in Haiti after 17 Christian missionaries were abducted there over the weekend.\u00a0 The State Department says officials are in contact with the families of the abducted group,…<\/b>
\nMIAMI (CBSMiami) \u2014 CBS News has confirmed the FBI is helping with hostage negotiations in Haiti after 17 Christian missionaries were abducted there over the weekend. The State Department says officials are in contact with the families of the abducted group, which includes sixteen Americans and one Canadian, five of them children. A senior law enforcement official tells CBS News that FBI tactical teams are on the ground in Haiti\u2019s capital Port-au-Prince, ready for a possible rescue mission and assisting in making contact with the kidnappers. \u201cWhere our efforts right now are focused are with, officials on the ground including from the FBI, working closely with our diplomatic team and the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, who\u2019s coordinating with the local authorities, providing assistance to the families,\u201d said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. The missionaries were affiliated with Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries which released a statement saying, \u201cWe request urgent prayer for the group of Christian Aid Ministries workers who were abducted while on a trip to visit an orphanage.\u201d The gang believed to be responsible is known to carry out mass kidnappings from busses and cars. CBS News obtained a WhatsApp message from a person who claims to have been in contact with the abducted group which read, in part, \u201cPlease pray for us\u2014we\u2019re being harassed, kidnapped\u2014they have control of our vehicle.\u201d \u201cHaiti has been rocked by turmoil in recent months, with the assassination of the country\u2019s president, a 7-point-2 magnitude earthquake, and the mass return of thousands of Haitian migrants from the US southern border. Garry Pierre-Pierre, founder and publisher of the Haitian Times, says gangs feel empowered amid the chaos. \u201cThere\u2019s no functioning government and the gangs rule Port-au-Prince and the country at large.\u201d The Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights says there\u2019ve been more than 600 kidnappings in Haiti, just this year. The U.S. State Department a \u201cdo not travel\u201d advisory in place for Haiti, citing \u201ckidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n