For the Record - April 27, 2008

Haiti: An April 13 article in Section A about the ouster of Haitian Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis incorrectly reported earlier observations by President Rene Preval about his exiled predecessor, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It reported Preval as having said that Aristide could be subject to arrest if he returned to Haiti because of pending criminal charges against him in Miami alleging corruption and instigating violence. The allegations were not criminal but part of a civil complaint brought by the interim government of Haiti against Aristide in U.S. District Court in southern Florida in November 2005. The case never went to trial and was dismissed in July 2006. What Preval did say in 2006 is that Aristide had to find out whether there was any legal complaint against him before returning to Haiti. The story also incorrectly described the detention of Aristide ally Gerard Jean-Juste on suspicion of complicity in murder as having been more than a year at the government villa. His time in detention was eight months, and the first few months were at the national penitentiary.