'Terrifying' - US man recalls being kidnapped in Haiti

RTÉ News​

3 days ago

A US citizen who was held for ransom by a gang in Haiti for 43 days has said negotiators will have a "hard time" pretending to Irish woman Gena Heraty's kidnappers that she is a "no one".
Jeff Frazier said he lost 22.5kg while being held captive in 2023, while being provided with just a little food and water, which he described as "problematic".
Mr Frazier said his "heart absolutely goes out" to her family.
He described it as a "deeply jarring experience to go from free to captive, especially in such a terrifying environment, with guns in your face and lots of screaming".
He said despite Ms Heraty "probably keeping her cool" due to being in intense environments while working in Haiti over the years, cortisol levels can get very high while being held captive.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Frazier said: "I imagine within 72 hours you kind of settle with the idea of being captive, but it never goes away."
He said that by now a fluent Haitian speaker would be established as the primary negotiator, with Ms Heraty's family and organisations associated with her liaising with the negotiator.
He said he believed that the gang has already made its initial demands.
"The negotiating team has for sure dismissed those and called them ridiculous and then the dance will begin," he said.
He added: "Unfortunately, because the national and global press has picked this up already, she is going to have a hard time pretending she is no one".
Mr Frazier added: "Luckily, my team hid me and scraped everything off the internet, quickly, and began the ruse of making sure that the gang thought that I was alone and had nobody to help me and wasn't going to get any money from the US."
He stressed that the involvement of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris can be a "good thing" but only if it is in secret.
"Obviously it is not now (a good thing). The reason it can be good is that you can start leveraging non-monetary forms of persuasion.
"Things that the gang may or may not want and you can get them quickly," he said.
The only way to get out quick is to pay a large amount and even then, it is rare that they let you out, he said, adding that often the gang will "just make you pay again".
"Many of the people that I was in with, we watched pay four or five times.
"Luckily my team was wise to that and didn't fall prey.
"We did pay once, that was a failed ransom attempt," he said.
While he would not disclose the fee, Mr Frazier said it was a very small sum of money.
On the publicity surrounding Ms Heraty's captivity, Mr Frazier said it increases the value of the hostages, which the kidnappers will use as leverage, either monetarily or non-monetarily.
"However it got public was certainly a misstep," he said.
He said not only "money talks" but "time talks", stressing that you can keep your amount low and leverage high if you have patience.
"My team knew that there was no way of getting me out quickly. So, they kept saying very tiny numbers, $3,000, $4,000, $7,000 and over weeks, knowing that there was no way they were going to let me out before 30 to 60 days," he said.
Mr Frazier said Ms Heraty and the other captives should remain hopeful, adding: "She will get out".