26093: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Dominicans Killed (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 25 (AP) -- Haiti recalled its top diplomat to the
Dominican Republic on Thursday after three Haitian migrants were beaten and
burned to death in an attack that has added to growing tensions between the
uneasy Caribbean neighbors.
   The three men, ranging from 19 to 22 years old, were attacked Aug. 16
near the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo, where they worked, Dominican
police said.
   According to the Dominican Attorney General's Office, they had been
drinking with a group of Dominicans who later demanded money. When turn
down, the Dominicans attacked the Haitians, doused them with a flammable
liquid and set them ablaze. The men died days later.
   In response to the killings, Haiti recalled its charge d'affaires "for
consultation," said Jean Daniel Lafontant, a spokesman for Haiti's Foreign
Ministry.
   "The Haitian interim government energetically condemns these criminal
acts. It deplores that such deeds have occurred at a time when significant
efforts are being made to lastingly improve relations between the two
countries," a Foreign Ministry statement said.
   The Dominican National Police said Thursday it had formed a commission
to investigate the attack and find the killers.
   In May, the Dominican government deported at least 2,000 Haitians
following the killing of a Dominican woman. No one was arrested the
slaying, but Dominican neighbors went on a retaliatory rampage, beheading
two Haitian migrants.
   Although Haitian migrants are considered a burden in a country whose own
citizens flee poverty by the thousands each year, Dominican farm owners
often truck in Haitians to work in the fields, saying they need the cheap
labor.