Haitian kidnappers released the remaining 12 missionaries who were abducted two months ago, the U.S. missionary group and Haitian officials said Thursday, ending a long hostage drama that brought to light an epidemic of kidnappings in Haiti by powerful criminal gangs.

“We glorify God for answered prayer—the remaining 12 hostages are FREE!,” the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said in a statement posted on its website. “All 17 of our loved ones are now safe.”

The hostages—16 Americans and one Canadian, including five children—were abducted in October by a gang known as the 400 Mawozo, or 400 country bumpkins. At the time of the kidnapping, the children ranged in age from eight months to 15 years old. Five of the hostages were released in recent weeks, the missionary group said.

The gang had demanded a ransom of $1 million per person, Haitian officials have said. The alleged gang leader said in a video posted on YouTube that he was willing to kill the hostages if his demands weren’t met. It was unclear if any ransom was paid. Haitian analysts said they didn’t think the gang would have released hostages without payment.

Frantz Elbé, the head of the Haitian national police, confirmed the hostages had been freed but declined to provide additional details. The Federal Bureau of Investigation didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Embassy in Haiti declined to comment. The Biden administration had sent FBI agents to Haiti to help secure the release of the hostages.

“We welcome reports that they are free and getting the care that they need after their ordeal,” said deputy White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. President Biden has received daily updates since the missionaries were abducted, she said.

Local residents found the 12 hostages alone early Thursday morning near Morne à Cabrit, some 13 miles north of Titanyen, where the mission’s headquarters are located, a senior Haitian police officer said. The missionaries were abducted in mid-October.

The residents found the hostages in good condition and immediately alerted police. The senior police official said he didn’t know whether any ransom had been paid. Seven men, four women and a teenager made up the group freed Thursday, the senior police official said.

The release ends an international political headache for the Biden administration and is welcome news for Haiti, one of the world’s poorest nations. The country has been undergoing one of the worst political and economic crises in its history since the assassination of its president, Jovenel Moïse, in July. The investigation into Mr. Moïse’s killing appears to have stalled.

Nearly 200 criminal gangs control more than half the nation’s territory. Gangs have kidnapped hundreds of Haitians, sparing neither poor nor rich and terrifying the nation since the assassination.

At least 41 U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents have been kidnapped for ransom in Haiti this year, according to Brian Nichols, the top State Department official for the Western Hemisphere.

In the case of the missionaries, a ransom was likely paid, said Gédéon Jean, the head of the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights, a Port-au-Prince-based organization that tracks kidnappings. He said that in every case since 1973 in which an American has been kidnapped, a ransom is believed to have been paid.

“They would not release them without payment,” said Pierre Esperance, the director of the Haitian National Human Rights Defense Network, an advocacy group.

Mr. Jean said the possible failing health of the hostages from hardships they faced in captivity may also have played a role in their release. “The 400 Mawozo know they can’t afford for a single American hostage to die,” he said. “They know that if they cross that line, the U.S. reaction will be fierce.”

The 400 Mawozo gang operates in an 8-square-mile zone with plenty of places to stash captives, said Alexander Galvez, Dominican-Haitian journalist and radio talk show host who was kidnapped by the gang in late November and held for nine days. He described the details of his captivity in an interview last week on Dominican TV station Telemicro just after his release.

The kidnappers use military rank among themselves and operate like a military unit, he said, adding that they boast sophisticated communications equipment and weaponry.

“They have everything. Luxury cars, a lot of space and money,” Mr. Galvez said in the television interview.

Mr. Galvez said he was abducted by eight armed kidnappers, four of whom were in a car with diplomatic plates. He said his feet and hands were bound during captivity. He was allowed to bathe once a day, and fed twice a day, spaghetti in the morning and rice at night.

Kidnappers telephoned his family and demanded one million Haitian gourdes, or about $10,000, for his release. The family eventually paid an undisclosed sum.

Mr. Jean said at least 803 people have been abducted in Haiti this year through the end of October, including 54 foreigners. A person who works to resolve kidnapping cases in Haiti said about 20 people a day are currently being abducted. If there are no arrests in the kidnappings of the missionaries, abductions—especially those targeting foreigners—are likely to increase further, analysts said.

Aside from kidnappings for ransom, criminal gangs exert their strength in other ways.

Earlier this fall, a coalition of gangs called G9 blocked access to Haiti’s main fuel terminal, causing devastating shortages across the country. Hospitals and other institutions had to drastically cut back their operations, and the price of gasoline shot up to $25 a gallon. Jimmy Cherizier—a former police officer also known as Barbecue who heads G9—eventually lifted the blockade.

Earlier this month, the U.S. and Canadian governments urged their citizens to leave the country. Immigration experts say Haiti’s deteriorating economy and descent into violence will likely fuel increased migration to the U.S. Some 1,500 Haitians were detained at sea while heading to the U.S. in fiscal year 2021, which ended in September, more than three times the number during the previous year.

Mr. Biden has flatly ruled out any military intervention in Haiti, a country of more than 11 million people, but has ramped up financial and technical assistance to the embattled Caribbean country, senior Haitian officials say. Since Mr. Moïse’s assassination, the U.S. has funneled some $50 million to improve the training and capabilities of the national police.
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