PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, May 2, CMC – The criminal gang “400 Mawazo” is demanding a US$500,000 ransom for the release of Carlos Guillén Tatis, the agricultural and commercial attaché of the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Haiti.

The diplomat was reported kidnapped last Friday in the Gautier district in the commune of Croix-des-Bouquets, while he was on his way to the Dominican Republic where he had intended to spend the long Labour Day weekend with his family.

But the authorities said that Guillén Tatis never crossed the border at Jimaní as planned and was not answering any phone calls.

In a diplomatic note, Faruk Miguel Castillo, the Dominican Ambassador accredited to Haiti, said that the Haitian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been informed of the kidnapping and apart from filing a complaint, has made a request for the matter to be investigated by the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police in Haiti.

Relatives said that Guillén Tatis is diabetic and risks a diabetic coma or even death if he does not receive his daily supply of insulin.

Reports in the Dominican press said the “400 Mawazo” gang are demanding a US$500,000 ransom for the release of the diplomat.

In November last year, 17 missionaries and their families were abducted by the “400 Mawazo” gang after they had visited an orphanage in the town of Ganthier, east of the capital Port au Prince.

The gang had demanded a one million US dollar ransom for each of those abducted, but the captive missionaries made a daring overnight escape in December, eluding their kidnappers and walking for miles over difficult, moonlit terrain with an infant and other children in tow.