PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The leader of the 400 Mawozo gang that police said is holding 17 members of a kidnapped missionary group is seen in a video released Thursday saying he will kill them if he doesn’t get what he’s demanding.
The video posted on social media shows Wilson Joseph dressed in a blue suit, carrying a blue hat and wearing a large cross around his neck.
“I swear by thunder that if I don’t get what I’m asking for, I will put a bullet in the heads of these Americans,” he said in the video.
He also threatened Prime Minister Ariel Henry and Haiti’s national police chief as he spoke in front of the open coffins that apparently held several members of his gang who were recently killed.
“You guys make me cry. I cry water. But I’m going to make you guys cry blood,” he said.
On Thursday, the newspaper Le Nouvelliste quoted the prime minister as saying Léon Charles had resigned as head of the National Police and would be replaced by Frantz Elbé. The paper said Elbé was director of the police departments of the South East and Nippes and previously served as general security coordinator of the National Palace when Jocelerme Privert was provisional president.
Henry, Charles and Elbé did not return messages seeking comment on the report.
Earlier this week, authorities said the gang was demanding $1 million per person, although it wasn’t immediately clear that included the five children in the group, among them an 8-month-old.