7529: Events in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

(from Caribbean Insight newsletter)

(21 Mar 01)


Pro-government street gangs barricaded streets in the capital for three
days on March 17, 19 and 20 calling for the arrest of the opposition-named
``provisional president`` Gérard Gourgue.  Seventeen people were injured,
some seriously, in clashes outside the headquarters of the main opposition
OPL party on March 20.  The government warned it might act against what it
called ``enemies of the republic,`` and against Gourgue for illegal
behaviour.  Gourgue in turn denounced the ``organised violence and terror``
by government supporters and appealed for international help. 
        A report by the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) on March 10
said the country's best-known journalist, Jean Dominique, had been murdered
last April as a result of "internecine conflict" among members of the
ruling Fanmi Lavalas party.  It said "leading political figures tied to
Aristide" apparently planned the murder over several months.  The report
pointed a finger at former police chief Sen. Dany Toussaint.
        About 60 Dominicans are thought to have drowned on March 15 off the
island of Ile-à-Vache when their boat ran aground after drifting far off
course for 24 days.  They had been on their way from the Dominican Republic
to Puerto Rico.