Day of Protest Decries Deaths in Haiti

We go first to Haiti, where violence continues to wrack the capital of Port-au-Prince. More than 700 people have been killed since September. Today a coordinated day of protest is planned to condemn the July 6th UN raid on Cite Soleil, which may have left as many as 23 Haitian civilians dead. The protests in Brazil and ten North American cities follows a demonstration by more than 5,000 people in City Soleil last week.

Also this week, prominent political leader Father Gerard Jean-Juste was detained by police and falsely accused of bringing weapons, bombs and money for mercenaries back to Haiti from Miami. Father Jean-Juste is a prominent leader in ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas party. Lavalas is calling for a boycott of upcoming elections unless Aristide is allowed to return from exile in South Africa.

This comes as a U.S.-backed advisory council that oversees Haiti's interim government recommended Saturday that Lavalas be barred from upcoming elections, accusing the party of encouraging violence. And last week, journalist Jacques Roche, cultural editor with the daily Le Matin, was kidnapped and murdered. Some are pinning the murder on Lavalas forces.

* Father Gerard Jean-Juste, Roman Catholic priest in Haiti and possible Lavalas presidential candidate. Speaking from Port-au-Prince.

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