25418: Wharram - news - Boynton Beach man's daughter in Haiti kidnapped, ransomed (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Bruce Wharram <bruce.wharram@sev.org>


Boynton Beach man's daughter in Haiti kidnapped, ransomed

By Kathleen Chapman

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Friday, June 17, 2005

Kidnappers returned a 5-year-old girl to her family Wednesday night, three
weeks after grabbing the child from her mother on the street.

Marie Sandra Charles was walking her daughter home from school in
Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, on May 25 when two gunmen on a motorcycle
grabbed the girl and took off.

Thony Charles holds a photograph of his daughter, 5-year-old Shiwins. He
wired her kidnappers in Haiti everything he had, but far less than $20,000
they had demanded. Shiwins was freed Wednesday night.

Thony Charles kisses Shiwins' photo Thursday after finding out she is safe.
'God is great,' he said. But he says his family must hide.

The thugs told her father in Boynton Beach that if he did not pay $20,000,
they would kill his daughter, Shiwins.

Thony Charles supports his wife and three children in Haiti on the $1,000 a
month he makes as a driver for local car dealerships.

He couldn't give the kidnappers what they asked.

But Charles knew he had no choice but to negotiate. No one else could help
him.

U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti have been powerless to stop an escalating number
of kidnappings in the capital. This month The New York Times reported that
armed rebels and street thugs kidnap six to 12 people a day.

They target anyone with a little money: missionaries, school principals,
U.N. workers and families with relatives who work in the United States. A
Russian contractor for the U.N. and an Indian businessman were taken.

Criminals appear to be asking for up to $300,000 for foreigners, but some
are so desperate they are willing to grab local street vendors for as little
as $30 ransom.

Many Haitians believe some of the police are cooperating with the criminals.
Some believe bank tellers may be helping gangs identify anyone who makes
more than a few dollars a day.

Charles said he has heard rumors of children's bodies left on the doorsteps
of families who could not come up with enough money.

The men who took Shiwins didn't bother to cover their faces, Charles said.
Kidnappers are not afraid of the police, he said, and they know that when
children are taken, parents will find a way to pay.

His wife called the kidnappers for days after Shiwins was taken, Charles
said, begging for her daughter. The kidnappers refused.

Dazed with grief, she walked the streets of the city, looking for the girl.
She was, Charles said, like a woman who is crazy. He explained through a
translator that Shiwins is the type of girl everyone loves ? smart, friendly
and good.

Charles has lived apart from his family since he fled to the United States a
few years ago, fearing retribution for his political activism. It is hard to
be separated, he said, but Shiwins cheers him up.

She likes to sing Frere Jacques and won't let Charles off the phone until
she finishes. Sometimes, he said, he barely gets time to talk with the
adults because Shiwins is happily chattering away.

Before she was taken, Charles was planning to send money for her graduation
from kindergarten, which would have been this week.

If he had a million dollars, Charles said, he would have given it.

He tried to get a bank loan to pay the kidnappers' fee, but was denied. He
tried to sell the house he built for his family in a middle-class
neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. Nobody would buy.

Sunday evening, Charles called the cellphone number given to him by the men
who took his daughter. They agreed to put Shiwins on the phone. He taped
their conversation.

Why can't you send the money? the girl asked him in Creole.

He called her by her nickname, Shi-Shi, and told her not to be scared. You
are too little to understand, he said, but I am doing everything I can. I
will send them all the money I have for you.

When the kidnapper came back to the phone, Charles tried to negotiate. Life
for a Haitian immigrant in the United States is not easy, he said. I am not
a rich man.

The kidnappers told him they could have taken any child off the street. They
took Shiwins, they said, because they have watched the family. His wife
carries American money, they told him.

A recording warned that Charles had only one minute left on his calling
card. His voice rose in anger and fear. Let my daughter go, he begged. I do
not have the money.

Then a click, and silence.

"Hello?" Charles asked.

His time was up.

Two days later, Charles wired everything he had to Haiti. He sent all of his
savings, money borrowed from friends and small donations taken up by local
churches.

Charles doesn't want to give the precise amount, for fear his family will be
targeted again. But his receipt for the wire transfer shows it was well
below the $20,000 demand.

His brother, Jocenel, agreed to drop the money at a gas station Wednesday
night, Charles said.

The kidnappers instructed him to take public transportation to a park in
Petionville, a wealthy neighborhood perched on the mountain that overlooks
the city. Shiwins was not there.

The kidnappers sent Jocenel to a church, another neighborhood, a spot near
the airport. He went at least six places in all, Charles said, borrowing
money from a friend for the minibus fares.

After more than three hours of traveling, Jocenel and the family were
worried the kidnappers would not keep their promise, Charles said. Finally,
they found Shiwins with a woman who seemed to be watching her in a park.

Jocenel asked no questions, Charles said. He just took the little girl home.

Charles got the jubilant phone call Wednesday night. Everyone there was
celebrating.

On Thursday evening, he was in the office of Pauline Jean Simon, a Haitian
radio host and law firm executive who mentioned the case on the air. Charles
beamed as he repeated the happy story, holding a picture of his daughter to
his heart.

"God is great," he said.

But these kidnappings cannot continue, Simon said. People in the highest
levels of the government have to pay attention and stop them.

Charles believes the kidnappers will come after his family again. They
already threatened to come back for more relatives, he said.

The house he built for his family in Port-au-Prince is not safe now, he
said. Shiwins will no longer be able to go to school.

The family will stay in hiding, Charles said, until things get better in
Haiti.


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