All from US missionary group freed in Haiti

The remaining 12 members of a group of 17 Ohio-based missionaries kidnapped by an armed gang in Haiti in October were released on Thursday, according to the country's justice minister.

The missionaries, representing Christian Aid Ministries, were kidnapped by armed men on Oct 16 while driving through the suburb of Croix des Bouquets, just outside the capital Port-au-Prince. The hostages－16 Americans and one Canadian－ranged in age from 8 months to 48.

The group's members had been returning from visiting an orphanage and were headed back to their home base when they were seized by the 400 Mawozo gang.

The gang leader had threatened to kill the hostages unless his demands were met. Authorities said the gang had demanded $1 million per person, although it was not immediately clear if that included the children in the group.

The hostages' release followed weeks of negotiations with 400 Mawozo, police spokesman Gary Desrosiers told Agence France-Presse. It remained unclear whether any ransom was paid.

Two of the 17 missionaries were released on Nov 21. Two weeks later, three more were released. A source in Haiti's security forces said the remaining hostages were released early on Thursday in the neighborhood of Morne Cabrit and were found by locals who alerted authorities.

'Feeling great'

Carleton Horst, a member of the Hart Dunkard Brethren Church in Michigan, knows several of those who had been kidnapped because they are connected to the church. After church members learned of the hostages' release, Horst told National Public Radio that he was "feeling great and relieved".

Kidnappings for ransom in Haiti are widespread and often indiscriminate, targeting the rich and poor, young and old. Rising crime has accompanied the country's political instability, with kidnappings spiking in the months after the July assassination of President Jovenel Moise, local human rights organization CARDH said.

Michele Montas, a Haitian journalist and former United Nations spokeswoman, told CBS News that "the kidnapping of these American missionaries and their prolonged detention have brought the attention of the world on the deteriorating security situation in Haiti".

Her husband Jean Dominique was killed in 2000 after the couple founded Radio Haiti, the country's leading news outlet.

"Kidnappings have become a daily occurrence. Gangs are controlling access to Port-au-Prince from the southern part of the country," Montas said.

"The Mawozo gang that kept the foreign missionaries captive northeast of the capital has been attacking passenger buses, taking their belongings from them, with a police force unable to control the situation and a de facto government totally powerless in controlling the security situation."