Toll in Haiti Clash Climbs; Up to 50 Reported Killed

A clash Friday between peasants demanding land reform and mobs working for landowners may have killed 50 people and wounded more than 100, radio stations reported Saturday.

A group of several hundred peasants en route to the northwestern village of Jean Rabel were ambushed by assailants, some of whom may have been members of deposed dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier’s private army, the Tontons Macoutes, according to radio stations.

Radio Soleil, the Roman Catholic Church station, and Radio Antilles reported that at least 30 people were killed and more than 100 wounded. Radio Haiti Inter reported that about 50 people died.

Radio Lumiere, the Protestant station, quoted a clergyman in Port-de-Paix, about 25 miles east of Jean Rabel, as saying that more than 200 people may have been killed. The Rev. Robert Elus, a Protestant missionary, said the peasants fought with machetes, picks and clubs. “There were at least 235 people killed,” Elus told the radio station.

Spokesmen at Radio Soleil and Haiti Inter said their reports came from part-time reporters on the scene. Their reports could not be verified because peasants armed with machetes were blocking the single dirt road leading to Jean Rabel, the spokesmen said. And the reports could not be independently confirmed because there are no phones in Jean Rabel.

Poor Region

Drought-stricken Jean Rabel and the surrounding region is the most depressed part of Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Land reform has been an unresolved issue since Duvalier fled to exile 17 months ago. Peasants in many rural areas have clashed with landowners who obtained or increased their holdings by driving peasants off under the dictatorship begun in 1957 by Duvalier’s father, Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier.

The Tontons Macoutes (Creole for bogeymen) were disarmed and disbanded by the provisional junta that took power following Duvalier’s exit. But critics of the junta claim that some of the Tontons Macoutes were incorporated into the army and others allowed to remain at liberty in the countryside.