15604: Benodin: Haiti cancels arrest warrant for gang leader (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

Haiti cancels arrest warrant for gang leader
15 may 2003
PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 15 (Reuters) - Haitian justice officials canceled an
arrest warrant on Thursday against Amyot Métayer, a gang leader whose arrest
was demanded by foreign nations as a necessary step toward unlocking Haiti's
political stalemate.
At the request of prosecutors, Judge Morency Joseph canceled the warrant
issued for Métayer's alleged involvement in violence on May 12, 2002, when
dozens of homes in a neighborhood in the coastal city of Gonaïves were
allegedly torched by his supporters in a dispute with a rival gang.
The Organization of American States, trying to broker a settlement in
Haiti's 3-year-old political deadlock resulting from tainted May 2000
parliamentary elections, told the government of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide it must arrest Métayer as part of a plan to win back international
support.
International donors cut off the flow of some $500 million in aid to the
impoverished Caribbean nation of 8 million after elections officials
calculated the results of the May 2000 vote to favor Aristide's Lavalas
Family party.
A self-described Aristide supporter, Métayer leads a gang called the
"Cannibal Army." Held after the torching, he escaped a prison in Gonaïves,
along with more than 150 other inmates, in August 2002 when several dozen
members of his gang attacked the front of the building with a bulldozer.
Three days of rioting ensued. Aristide sent riot police to the city to quell
the disturbance.
The OAS has repeatedly criticized the Haitian government for Métayer's
apparent ability to operate with impunity in Gonaïves after the jailbreak.
Métayer appeared frequently in public in the city and led demonstrations.
The government had said it intended to arrest him but was taking its time to
avoid bloodshed in Gonaïves.
Prosecutors said they met with witnesses and did not have enough evidence to
charge Métayer in connection with the violence last May.