12797: Haitian protesters block major highway (Reuters) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

MSNBC & CNN Websites, August 20, 2002
Haitian protesters block major highway

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) --Pro-government protesters used burning
barricades on Monday to stop traffic on Haiti's National Route 2, a busy
two-lane artery running the length of country's southern peninsula, private
Radio Haiti Inter reported.

The demonstrators, reported by the station to number about 50, said they
were protesting the suspension to Haiti of international aid and what they
said was a destabilization campaign by the opposition Democratic Convergence
coalition.

The radio report gave no details on the form of the barricades, set up at
Leogane, about 15 miles (24 km) west of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
No arrests were reported.

Haiti's president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has been locked in a two-year
dispute with the opposition over May 2000 legislative elections that
Aristide's opponents say were tabulated to favor his Lavalas Family party.
Some $500 million in aid has been suspended as a result of the dispute.

Tensions have escalated in Haiti in recent weeks. Three weeks ago, gang
members in the coastal city of Gonaives freed a gang leader and former
Aristide militant, Amiot Metayer, by attacking the local jail with a
bulldozer. The attack set off days of rioting in the city and the burning of
several government buildings.

Last week, a dispute over elections at Haiti's state university, which
students charge were being delayed to favor candidates loyal to Lavalas,
turned violent when student protesters in front of the Ministry of Education
were attacked by government partisans. Three people were injured.