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| Gunmen Storm Haitian Jail, Free Gang Leader |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 08/06/2002 |
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Armed supporters of an imprisoned political militant and leader of the 'Cannibal Army' gang stormed a jail in the Haitian coastal city of Gonaives on Friday, freeing him and more than 50 other prisoners, witnesses and prison officials said. Amiot Metayer escaped the jail when several dozen members of his gang attacked the front of the building with a bulldozer while firing automatic weapons, the witnesses said. Their account was confirmed by Clifford LaRose, director of the National Penitentiary. One prisoner was killed in the assault, said a source within the Haitian National Police. Metayer was arrested July 2 on suspicion of ordering the torching of buildings in the city's slums during an outbreak of violence with a rival gang leader. He was transferred to the National Penitentiary in the capital, Port-au-Prince, about 70 miles southeast, but then transferred back to Gonaives on July 11 after his supporters rioted and burned a customs house in the city. A self-described supporter of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Metayer was implicated by witnesses in the Dec. 17 slaying of the bodyguard of Luc Mesadieu, a politician in the opposition Democratic Convergence coalition. The killing followed an assault by armed commandos on the National Palace the same day. At least 10 people were killed and half a dozen opposition party homes and offices were torched in resulting street violence. Aristide has been locked in a two-year electoral dispute with the Democratic |
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