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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| U.S. Marines Probe Deadly Attack in Haiti |
| 2004-03-08 |
| U.S. Marines are investigating gunfire that left five people dead during a march by thousands celebrating the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The shooting prompted Marines to return fire in the first armed action of their mission to Haiti. A few doctors without enough medication or staff struggled Monday to treat dozens of injured from Sunday's demonstration, despite the dramatic arrival of a French Air Force helicopter that landed on a major road to deliver emergency supplies to Port-au-Prince's main private hospital. Among the five people killed were Spanish television correspondent Ricardo Ortega. Dozens were injured, including South Florida photographer Michael Laughlin, 37. Sunday's was the worst attack since Aristide fled Feb. 29 and involved the first gunfire by U.S. forces sent a week ago to stabilize Haiti. What protesters called a "victory march" began with a couple hundred people in Port-au-Prince's Petionville suburb, with Haitian police in the lead along with a convoy of U.S. Marines in five Humvees mounted with machine guns. Two truckloads of French legionnaires were in the tail. "Try Aristide! Jail Aristide!" protesters yelled, demanding he stand trial for alleged corruption and killings committed by his militant supporters. As the number of protesters swelled to thousands, the peacekeepers got hemmed in. When marchers converged on the central Champs de Mars plaza, gunfire erupted. Many witnesses said they saw Aristide militants start the shooting. U.S. Maj. Richard Crusan said three Marines fired in the direction of the attack. "We are unaware that any action was taken to other reports of shooting. We are still reviewing that information," he said. In a telephone conversation aired Monday on French radio, Aristide called on countrymen to peacefully resist the "unacceptable occupation" of Haiti and said he remains the nation's president. Aristide flew into exile March 1 in the Central African Republic. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 This would not have happened last August. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-3-8 6:26:44 PM |