27031: Hermantin(News)'Hillbilly' DJ kidnapped in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Posted on Fri, Dec. 30, 2005


HAITI
'Hillbilly' DJ kidnapped in Haiti
An American deejay known as the Haitian Hillbilly and a friend were kidnapped 
in Port-au-Prince for sky-high ransoms, the latest in a flurry of abductions 
sweeping Haiti.
BY CARA BUCKLEY
cbuckley@MiamiHerald.com

Alain Maximilien, the self-declared ''Haitian Hillbilly'' radio deejay who 
brought punk and country music to Haiti's airwaves, was kidnapped Wednesday 
night with a friend outside a Port-au-Prince apartment, his parents and friends 
said. They are the latest Americans to fall victim to Haiti's kidnapping 
epidemic, which has hit a record pace.

It was around 10:30 p.m. and Maximilien, 33, a U.S. citizen who spent half his 
childhood in Port-au-Prince, was dropping off his friend, whose full name could 
not be confirmed, in the upscale Petionville neighborhood when abductors 
snatched them both. The kidnappers phoned Alain's father, Leslie Maximilien, an 
hour later and demanded a $2 million ransom for each kidnapped man. After tense 
stop-and-start negotiations Thursday, the kidnappers appeared set to accept 
considerably less, and Leslie Maximilien hoped to have his son back by 
midnight.

''He's white and an American, so he's a target,'' said Leslie Maximilien from 
the Port-au-Prince home he shares with his son. He hired a private negotiator 
to work toward his son's release, notified the U.S. embassy and was allowed to 
speak with Alain periodically Thursday. ''He's under a tremendous amount of 
pressure,'' Leslie Maximilien said.

Alain Maximilien gained a modest degree of notoriety in Haiti after launching 
his radio show in Port-au-Prince early this year. Seeking to invigorate and 
diversify Haiti's musical palette, he played everything from Johnny Cash to the 
Clash to game show themes, all the while adopting the drawling, cocky persona 
of his alter ego, the ``Haitian Hillbilly.''

He and his friend's abductions come at a time when kidnapping rates have 
skyrocketed to unprecedented levels in the beleaguered Caribbean nation. 
According to the FBI, Haiti has replaced Colombia as the kidnapping capital of 
the hemisphere.

Wealthy Haitians and foreigners are most frequently targeted, and an estimated 
eight to 10 people are kidnapped in Port-au-Prince every day. Some 28 U.S. 
citizens were abducted between April and mid-December, according to the FBI. 
All 28 were reportedly returned unharmed, though three Americans were slain 
trying to resist evident kidnapping attempts.

Though Maximilien was comfortable in Port-au-Prince, having hop-scotched 
between Haiti and the United States all his life, he was on high alert in 
recent months as more of his acquaintances and friends were abducted for money.

Maximilien lives with his father in Port-au-Prince. His mother, Chris 
Maximilien, an emergency room nurse, lives in Kendall. Relatives flocked to her 
house Thursday to comfort her. ''I don't know what to do,'' Chris Maximilien 
said Thursday.

According to his father and friends, Maximilien was especially ebullient 
Wednesday, having hosted a successful afternoon radio show. He had just driven 
his friend, a video producer from North Carolina whose name has not been 
confirmed, from a country club to his friend's apartment 10 minutes away when 
the kidnapping occurred.

''It should have been the safest drive that you could do in Haiti, so it's very 
scary in that sense,'' said a friend of Maximilien's, who lives in 
Port-au-Prince and feared disclosing his name.

The kidnappers likely targeted the North Carolina man because he was carrying a 
video camera, the friend suspected. The pair, like most of Port-au-Prince's 
kidnapping victims, are being held in the lawless slum of Cité Soleil.

Through his negotiator, Leslie Maximilien talked the kidnappers down to a 
ransom of $20,000 by mid-Thursday. But then the kidnappers balked: Apparently 
two more gangs had gotten involved in the abductions, and each wanted a hefty 
cut. By Thursday afternoon, the demand had ballooned to $35,000, still sizable 
but a fraction of the initial $2 million.

Leslie Maximilien said the kidnappers have allowed him to speak with his son 
very briefly four or five times since Wednesday night.

As Thursday wore on, Alain Maximilien sounded increasingly drawn and concerned. 
The kidnappers were jittery because they felt the negotiations were going too 
slowly, he told his father, and they had begun to threaten him.

Leslie Maximilien told him not to worry. He'd get him back.