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Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Haitian Leader Visits Young Burn Victim

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From Times staff and Wire reports

A young Haitian immigrant set afire by a bully in his Brooklyn neighborhood met with the president of Haiti, who came to boost the boy’s morale. David Opont, a frail 12-year-old whose plight drew nationwide attention, met for 15 minutes with President Ertha Pascal Trouillot. The president gave Opont a bouquet of flowers, later saying she came to offer “the support of the Haitian people.” Opont, who was dragged into an abandoned basement in Flatbush, tied to a pipe and set afire, could be released from New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center within a week, officials said.

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