Novermber 27, 2010

There were dead and many wounded when gunmen opened fire on a rally for presidential candidate Michel Martelly, his spokeswoman said Saturday.

The UN police force in Haiti confirmed the “incident” in the town of Les Cayes, in southern Haiti, but was unable to give a number of victims. UN police were not involved, said spokesman Jean-Francois Bezina.

Martelly spokeswoman Karine Beauvoir described the late Saturday attack as an attempt on the candidate’s life.

Martelly, a popular singer widely known as “Sweet Micky,” is one of the leading candidates in Sunday’s presidential vote.

“Martelly was in the street with his supporters,” said Beauvoir. “There was an ambush. They fired on the crowd with automatic weapons.”

Martelly supporters blamed members of the ruling INITE party for the attack.

“We recognized some of the armed men and they are from INITE,” Beauvoir charged.

Those spotted include  –Ronald Felix (Gwo Ronald)Securite Seanteur Carlos Lebon
Depute Torbeck, Guy Gerard Georges
Senateur Francky Exius. They were  coordinated by Les Cayes Mayor Edwin Zenny and Senator Joseph Lambert…Jude Celestin’s campaign manager.

In earlier electoral violence, two people were shot dead late Monday in Beaumont, a small town in southwestern Haiti, when supporters of Celestin and candidate Charles Henri Baker squared off armed with firearms, rocks and bottles.

Celestin tried to accuse a Baker supporter, even after a sworn police statement placed the accused some 60 miles away from the location at the time of the killing.  Knowledgeable sources say that Celestin’s INITE members created the incident in an effort to support Celestin’s effort to obtain an arrest warrant for Charlito Baker.

And the International Community remains mute, insisting a free-and-fair election can be held even as Preval places Mayor Edwin Zenny and Senator Lambert – Celestin’s campaign Director, in charge of election  coordination, voting and ballot count.

Putting the fox to guard the chicken house is not a useful concept.