Florida couple reportedly kidnapped in Haiti; State Division ‘conscious of reviews of two US residents lacking’
The household of a Florida couple lacking in Haiti says the 2 Americans had been ordered off of a bus and kidnapped within the Caribbean nation every week and a day in the past.
Kin of Jean-Dickens Toussaint and his spouse, Abigail Toussaint, each 33, say they already paid $6,000 in ransom, however now the alleged kidnapers are demanding upward of $200,000 per particular person.
The couple, who lives in Tamarac, in Broward County, Fla., reportedly left behind their younger son, who will flip two in a matter of days.
“The U.S. Division of State and our embassies and consulates overseas don’t have any larger precedence than the protection and safety of U.S. residents abroad. We’re conscious of reviews of two U.S. residents lacking in Haiti,” a State Division spokesperson stated in an announcement to Fox Information Digital Sunday. “When a U.S. citizen is lacking, we work intently with native authorities as they perform their search efforts, and we share info with households nonetheless we will. We now have nothing additional to share at the moment.”
The couple’s 22-year-old niece, Christie Desormes, who lives out of state in Silver Spring, Maryland, not too long ago instructed WPLG that the Toussaints had solely deliberate to be in Haiti for 4 days to go to household and attend a competition.
However on March 18, she says, the couple was kidnapped whereas taking a bus from the Port-Au-Prince space.
“They stopped the bus at a cease after which requested for Individuals to get off the bus and their escorts off the bus, after which they took them,” Desormes instructed the outlet.
“I’m nonetheless in a state of shock,” the couple’s niece added. “It feels prefer it didn’t occur, however I do know it did, particularly since I noticed them final month for my birthday.”
“I do have the worst-case situation enjoying in my head, however clearly I don’t need that to occur,” she stated. “We simply wish to hear their voice as proof that they’re nonetheless alive.”
Desormes, joined by her mom, stated the household already paid $6,000 in ransom, however now the alleged kidnapers upped their payment.
“As soon as we despatched that cash, they tried to up the value to $200,000 per particular person, and we don’t have that kind of cash,” she stated.
The couple’s son, whose second birthday is March 28, is within the care of his grandfather, Abigail’s father, the ladies stated.
“Please assist us convey them again house to him and our household. They’re U.S. residents. They’re dad and mom. They’re siblings. They’re my household,” Desormes wrote in a petition on Change.org. “They’re cherished and most of all they’re individuals who desperately want your assist. My Household and I’ve been stressing and doing all the pieces we will to convey them again house, and now we want you and your voice to not solely signal the petition however to unfold the phrase and to speak to your native representatives to do one thing to rescue them as they did earlier than for the 17 missionaries who had been kidnapped in Haiti and returned unhurt final 12 months.”
In December 2021, the FBI and State Division performed a job in efforts to free 16 Individuals and one Canadian who traveled to Haiti on a missionary journey, NPR reported.
Violence and abductions reportedly surged within the nation following the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse in July of that 12 months.
As of Dec. 1, 2022, the US State Division urged Individuals to not journey to Haiti on account of kidnapping, crime, and civil unrest.
“U.S. residents ought to depart Haiti now in mild of the present safety and well being state of affairs and infrastructure challenges,” the Degree 4 advisory reads.