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HAITI-KIDNAP (SECOND UPDATE) Jul-24-2006 (400 words) xxxi
Franciscans kidnapped in Haiti released unharmed
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- Two friars kidnapped July 20 in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, were freed unharmed by their captors late the next day.
A day after appealing for the friars' safe release, the Franciscan order confirmed the two men had been released July 21 at 9:30 p.m. and that they were in good health.
Brother Cesar Humberto Flores, 50, of El Salvador and a young Haitian postulant were abducted July 20 by unidentified assailants. 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.
The Franciscan provincial for Haiti said the abductors had contacted him and had asked to be paid a ransom.
A spokesman for the Franciscans in Haiti said the kidnappers had been seeking a large ransom and the order had been looking for a way to negotiate with them.
In a July 22 statement, the Franciscan headquarters in Rome did not mention whether a ransom had been paid to secure the friars' release, but it did express the order's gratitude to the apostolic nunciatures of Haiti and Guatemala "for their mediation and the liberation of the friars."
Although the kidnapping of missionaries has been on the rise in Haiti, the minister general of the Order of Friars Minor, Franciscan Brother Jose Rodriguez Carballo, said in a July 22 statement that "the Franciscans will keep on working in Haiti among the poorest and needy." Brother Carballo said the kidnappings have made the Franciscans feel even closer "to those who suffer because of violence."
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.
In June, 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 had been reported kidnapped in Haiti 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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