A powerful Haitian gang leader has been charged by US prosecutors with ordering the kidnapping of an American couple from their home in Haiti, which left the woman dead, authorities said Tuesday.
Vitel ‘Homme’ Innocent — who remains at large and is believed to be living in Tabarre, Haiti — was also charged last year in the 2021 kidnappings of Christian missionaries.
The charges are considered largely symbolic in Haiti, where gangs are more powerful than the government and have bigger and better weapons than the police.
Gang leaders have previously brushed off UN sanctions and criminal charges filed by US federal authorities as they keep operating with impunity.
In the October 2022 kidnapping of Jean Franklin and Marie Odette Franklin, armed gang members stormed their home, and Marie Franklin was shot and killed in the kidnapping. Her husband, Jean, was held for 21 days and released following ransom payments made to the gang on behalf of his family.
