Haiti: Fanmi Lavalas leaders abducted

An official from ousted president Jean Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas political movement was abducted at gunpoint on October 27. Dr Maryse Narcisse acted as spokesperson for exiled president and belongs to the five-member executive committee of Fanmi Lavalas. She was taken in front of her home in the area of Petion-Ville in Haiti's capital.

Narcisse is the second high-profile figure of the Lavalas movement abducted in the past three months. Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine was last seen on the evening of August 12 after meeting with a US human rights delegation. He has not been heard from since. Pierre-Antoine was abducted shortly after he had announced his intention to file as a Lavalas candidate for the next round of parliamentary elections.

Recent abductions have led to fear among Lavalas supporters that a campaign targeting their leadership has begun as they continue to organise for an upcoming convention to be held on December 16 in Port au Prince. That date commemorates the 17-year anniversary of Aristide's first election to Haiti's presidency in 1990.

[For more information tune into the Flashpoints radio show at http://www.flashpoints.net. Article by Haiti Information Project.]

From GLW issue 730