28853: (news) Chamberlain: Italy-Haiti-Kidnapping (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   ROME, Aug 8 (AP) -- Gunmen in Haiti have killed an Italian businessman
and kidnapped his wife amid a spate of violence in the impoverished
Caribbean nation, the Italian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
   A group of armed men on Monday entered the couple's villa in the
capital, Port-au-Prince, shooting 67-year-old Guido Vitiello and leaving
him tied to a chair before abducting his wife Gigliola Martino, the
ministry said. Vitiello later died of his wounds in a hospital.
   Investigators believe Martino, 65, was kidnapped for ransom and the
Italian ambassador in the neighboring Dominican Republic has been
dispatched to Port-au-Prince to assist the family and keep contacts with
local authorities, the ministry said.
   Martino was also briefly kidnapped last year and released unharmed. She
has been living in Haiti for about 30 years with her husband and two
children.
   Haiti experienced relative calm after President Rene Preval's February
election. Since May, however, dozens of foreigners and Haitians have been
kidnapped and gang fighting has forced hundreds to flee their homes in the
capital.