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CNS Story:
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HAITI-KIDNAP (UPDATED) Jul-21-2006 (320 words) xxxi
Franciscans call for safe release of friars kidnapped in Haiti
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- The Franciscan order called for the safe release of two friars kidnapped in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
Brother Cesar Humberto Flores, 50, of El Salvador and a young Haitian postulant were abducted July 20 by unidentified assailants. The Franciscan provincial for Haiti said the abductors had contacted him and were asking to be paid a ransom.
A spokesman for the Franciscans in Haiti said the kidnappers were seeking a large ransom and the order was looking for a way to negotiate with them.
In a July 21 statement, the minister general of the Order of Friars Minor, Franciscan Brother Jose Rodriguez Carballo, appealed to the kidnappers to free the men unharmed.
Brother Flores is responsible for formation as head of the novices in the Port-au-Prince friary, located in one of the capital's poorest neighborhoods.
No other information, such as details of the kidnapping or how much money the abductors were demanding, was made available to the Franciscan headquarters in Rome.
Kidnappings for ransom in Haiti have been on the rise.
Two U.S. nondenominational missionaries were freed July 21 after their families paid an undisclosed sum of money. The two missionaries from High Point, N.C., were abducted July 16.
In another case, Charles Adams of Queensbury, N.Y., who was in Haiti working on a water treatment project, was released July 21, the day after he was abducted. An unknown amount of money was paid for his release.
Last month, a 72-year-old Canadian missionary was abducted from a rural town outside the capital where he runs an orphanage. He was freed after a week when an undisclosed ransom was paid.
According to an Associated Press report July 20, at least 29 people have been reported kidnapped in Haiti so far in July; about a third of them were U.S. citizens.
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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