Haiti: American detainees plead for help from U.S. officials

American detainees plead for help from U.S. officials

‘No one is giving us any kind of information about what is going on,’ says Corinna Lankford.

By IAN URBINA - New York Times News Service Published: 02/10/10

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The eight Idahoans and two other Baptists from America jailed on kidnapping charges want the U.S. government to do more on their behalf and for the news media to focus on them less.

“Help us,” one of the detainees, Carla Thompson, 53, of Meridian, said Monday as she lay on a bed in a scorching Port-au-Prince jail cell of about 8 feet by 5 feet, her ankles bandaged from infected mosquito bites.

“That’s the message I would give to Mr. Obama and the State Department. Start helping us.”

Sitting on a dirty concrete floor in the cell, another detainee, Corinna Lankford, 42, of Middleton, nodded in agreement, a frustrated look on her face.

“I have faith in God,” Lankford said. “But maybe the U.S. government could help a little more, too.”

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Comment by fireguy on February 18, 2010 at 2:50pm: This is great news James thanks for the update I was going to post it too but you were on it as usual.

Comment by truth on February 17, 2010 at 6:35pm: Haiti frees US missionary group

Eight of the 10 Americans accused of kidnapping children in Haiti after January's quake, have been released from custody.

But the group's leader Laura Silsby, and one other member, Charisa Coulter, are being held for more investigation.

The five men and five women, mostly from Idaho, denied allegations they tried to smuggle 33 children across the border to the Dominican Republic.

They were arrested 17 days after the quake that killed up to 230,000 people.

The group walked out of jail shortly after dusk on Wednesday and were taken to Haiti's international airport at Port-au-Prince.

Reports said they expected to begin their journey back to the US overnight.

"The judge wants to question two of my clients because they were in Haiti before the earthquake," the group's lawyer Aviol Fleurant told AFP news agency.

The case has drawn huge media attention and criticism from some - including the Haitian prime minister - that it is distracting from earthquake recovery.

Earlier on Wednesday, Haitian President Rene Preval greeted French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who arrived to assess the aid efforts.

Haitian pastor

The eight missionaries are being freed without bail but are required to come back to Haiti for any legal proceedings if required.

The missionaries, from the New Life Children's Refuge, face charges of child abduction and criminal conspiracy.

The group had said they were taking the children to an orphanage.

But it has since emerged that some of the youngsters' parents are still alive, and many came from the same village.

The group's leader, Ms Silsby, has said her group had met a Haitian pastor by chance when it arrived in the country, and that he had helped them gather the children.

She also admitted that the missionaries did not have the proper paperwork.

The children, who are aged from two to 12, were later taken into care in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.

Earlier on Wednesday, the visiting Mr Sarkozy pledged 270m euros (£235m) in reconstruction aid as he became the first French head of state to visit the former colony.

Mr Sarkozy said: "France will live up to the responsibilities of its shared history and friendship with Haiti."