The US Department of State has announced a reward offer increase of up to $2 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Haitian national Vitel‘homme Innocent for conspiring to participate in or attempting to participate in transnational organised crime.
A statement from the Department on Wednesday said this announcement coincided with the FBI announcement of Innocent’s addition to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List and follows the Department of Justice’s announcement of an indictment against Innocent for conspiracy to commit hostage taking resulting in death, and other charges.
The statement which was obtained by Africa Today News, New York read; ‘On October 16, 2021, the 400 Mawozo gang engaged in a conspiracy to kidnap sixteen U.S. Christian missionaries and one Canadian missionary and held them for ransom.
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‘Then, on 7th of October, 2022, armed members of Innocent’s gang kidnapped two elderly U.S. citizens residing in Torcelle, Haiti, resulting in the death of one of the kidnap victims. Innocent was charged as a co-conspirator in both kidnappings.
‘The United States supports the efforts of our Haitian law enforcement partners to enforce rule of law in Haiti and combat transnational organized crime’.
In another report, the President of the United States, Joe Biden has hinged survival of the world on the growth and prosperity of the African continent, even as he threw his weight behind the continuity of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
Africa Today News, New York reports that AGOA is an initiative that provides duty-free access to the U.S. market for most agricultural and manufactured products exported by eligible African countries. Biden, in a White House statement, yesterday, said he “strongly supports re-authorisation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a landmark, bipartisan law that has formed bedrock for U.S. trade with sub-Saharan Africa for more than two decades”.
He committed his government to expeditiously working with Congress and African partners to renew the law beyond 2025 to deepen trade relations between the countries.