A package of news briefs from the Caribbean

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - At least three Haitians were killed and 25 others injured amid food riots and clashes with U.N. peacekeepers in southern Haiti on Friday, a mission spokeswoman and Haitian radio said.

A young man was shot in the head and killed Friday morning. It was not immediately clear who shot him, although protesters blamed U.N. troops for the death.

U.N. soldiers fired back because they were fired upon, said U.N. spokeswoman Sophie Boutaud de la Combe. She said the mission has opened an investigation into the death but declined to provide any other details, citing a lack of information.

At least two other people were found dead in other parts of Les Cayes where rioting occurred on Friday, Radio Kiskeya reported. It was not clear how they died. Boutaud said the U.N. mission was not aware of those deaths.

Nine people were treated for bullet wounds and four others were arrested, Boutaud said. A U.N. soldier was slightly injured.

Thousands of Haitians blocked roads and looted stores in the southern town of Les Cayes on a second day of protest against high food prices. They also burned cars and tore down the front gate of a U.N. base.

Additional troops have been sent for reinforcement, Boutaud said.

SURINAME: 6 of 19 dead in plane crash are French citizens, government says

PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AP) - Six people from French Guiana were among the 19 people who died in a plane crash in Suriname, French officials said Friday.

President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed condolences to the victims' families in a statement issued in Paris. He did not identify them.

French Guiana government spokeswoman Odile Garrigus identified the victims as six members of a family from that country, including two children and their parents.

The family was en route to a funeral, Blue Wing Chairman Frits Pengel said. Also killed were the owner of a construction company and seven of his employees.

The twin-engine Antonov-AN28, operated by Surinamese carrier Blue Wing airlines, crashed Thursday in the jungle on approach to an airstrip in the Benzdorp region, near the French Guiana border.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but authorities believe the aircraft exploded en route to a remote mining region.

CARIBBEAN: Lawyers for bin Laden driver on trial at Guantanamo raise new abuse claims

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Osama bin Laden's former driver was assaulted by U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan and harshly treated at Guantanamo, his American military lawyer said Friday in a bid to have his statements to interrogators excluded from his war crimes trial.

In court papers, the Navy lawyer for Salim Ahmed Hamdan detailed for the first time the alleged mistreatment of the Yemeni prisoner, claiming among other things that U.S. forces repeatedly rammed his head into a post in Afghanistan and held him in solitary confinement for long periods at Guantanamo.

He also said Egyptian interrogators painfully twisted Hamdan's bound arms to extract statements in the presence of a U.S. official in Afghanistan, where he was also forced to sit motionless on benches with other prisoners in subfreezing temperatures for days.

Hamdan's statements were the result of "physical and mental coercion," and the judge should not permit them as evidence at a his trial this summer, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer said.

A military judge is expected to hold a hearing on the motion at Guantanamo later this month and the U.S. government has not yet filed its response.

But a Pentagon spokesman said the U.S. investigates all credible allegations of abuse and noted that al-Qaida trains operatives to make false allegations of torture and mistreatment if taken prisoner.

SURINAME: Court declines to drop case against those accused in 1982 massacre

PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AP) - A military tribunal in Suriname ruled Friday that those accused of a 1982 massacre - including the country's former dictator - must stand trial.

A judge found no reason to dismiss the case against former ruler Desi Bouterse and 11 of the 26 suspects. An attorney for Bouterse requested in December that the case be dropped because it was politically motivated, among other reasons.

The suspects and their attorneys left the courtroom shortly before the ruling was read.

Friday's ruling clears the way for the court to hear testimony from suspects and witnesses. No date has been set yet.

Ex-government and military officials are accused of rounding up 15 politicians, journalists, union leaders, lawyers and soldiers and killing them in an ancient fort in Paramaribo on Dec. 7, 1982. A union leader and politician, Fred Derby, who survived, testified before his death in 2001 that Bouterse personally set him free.

Bouterse has repeatedly accepted political responsibility for the killings but denied direct involvement.

CARIBBEAN: 2 groups to offer civilian lawyers for 'high-value' detainees facing trial at Gitmo

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said they are assembling teams of civilian attorneys to help defend some of the most notorious terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

The two groups said they will offer assistance to "high-value" detainees - a group including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks - who could face execution if convicted at the first U.S. war-crimes trials since World War II.

In a statement Thursday night, ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said his group wants to make the proceedings "as fair as possible."

Romero accused the government of trying to ensure convictions with rules that allow hearsay evidence and confessions obtained through coercion.

The civilian attorneys, if authorized to participate by the detainees, would play a secondary role to Pentagon-appointed defense attorneys during the military tribunals.

The chief defense counsel for the Guantanamo tribunals, Army Col. Steve David, said Friday that he welcomed the expertise of the civilian lawyers in areas such as death penalty cases to complement his office's resources.

JAMAICA: Red Stripe cancels concert sponsorships, cites violent lyrics

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - Brewing company Red Stripe said Friday it will not sponsor several upcoming concerts in Jamaica because of increasingly violent lyrics.

The company has withdrawn thousands of dollars (euros) in sponsorship from the popular "Reggae Sumfest" and "Sting" reggae show. Musicians are glorifying violence in what has become a worrisome trend, the company said in a statement.

Several Jamaican musicians have been criticized abroad for their violent anti-gay lyrics, including Buju Banton, who is scheduled to sing at Sumfest this year.

Red Stripe is owned by British food and drink company Diageo, which bought it about a decade ago from Jamaica's Desnoes and Geddes.

CUBA: Official calls government restrictions, deteriorating infrastructure 'war wounds'

HAVANA (AP) - A top Cuban official on Friday publicly acknowledged problems permeating everyday life on the island, calling them "war wounds" of a long struggle with the United States.

Vice President Carlos Lage's comments came at a gathering of Cuban intellectuals, who complained about censorship, restrictions on the Internet and heavy-handed, inept bureaucracy.

The relatively open debate appeared to be part of a guarded opening under new President Raul Castro, who succeeded his brother Fidel in February and has urged Cubans to fearlessly voice major complaints without fear of reprisal.

Lage spoke to 400 members of the Congress of the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists.

Cuba has for decades considered itself in an ideological war with the United States and officials blame many political restrictions and economic hardships on U.S. threats and embargoes.

Lage offered no promises for improvement in any of the areas he singled out, but the new leadership has done away with some of the most-despised restrictions on daily life, dropping bans on allowing Cubans to rent cell phones, rent cars, stay in luxury hotels and buy appliances and DVD players.

Relatively few Cubans have the money to take advantage of those openings and the reforms have not eroded the control of Cuba's Communist Party.

PUERTO RICO: Investigators close beauty-pageant sabotage case for lack of evidence

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Officials said Friday they have dropped an investigation into a beauty queen's claim that her evening gown was doused with pepper spray, citing a lack of evidence to support criminal charges.

The island's justice secretary, Roberto Sanchez Ramos, said prosecutors determined they could not prove who was responsible for attacking Ingrid Marie Rivera during the Miss Puerto Rico Universe pageant in November.

Pageant spokesman Harold Rosario said he was satisfied investigators did what they could, but said he still believes Rivera was the victim of a sabotage attempt.

The announcement appears to end a drama that captivated this U.S. Caribbean territory for months with speculation over backstage backstabbing.

Rivera, 24, broke out in hives between stage appearances but kept her composure in front of the cameras and judges. She won the crown despite her travails and lodged a complaint days later.

A black evening gown and one of her bathing suits tested positive for pepper spray.

In January, police said that two pageant employees who supported a rival contestant were likely to face assault charges. But the police chief, Pedro Toledo, later said the evidence was not strong enough to support charges.

Rivera will travel to Vietnam for the international Miss Universe competition in July.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Mark Wiebe shoots 67 to take 2-stroke lead in Cap Cana Championship

PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic (AP) - Mark Wiebe shot a course-record 5-under 67 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead in the U.S. Champions Tour's Cap Cana Championship, the first pro golf event ever in the Dominican Republic.

Vicente Fernandez and Fulton Allem opened with 69s in windy conditions on the Jack Nicklaus designed-Punta Espada course. The sustained 40 kph (25 mph) wind led to an average score of 74.688, the highest opening-round mark this season.

The SAS Championship winner last year in his Champions Tour debut, Wiebe had six birdies, four on the back nine. He holed a bunker shot from 15 feet for birdie on the par-4 first hole, and chipped in from 20 feet for birdie on the difficult par-3 13th. The two-time winner on the regulart U.S. PGA Tour also made one of just four birdies on the par-4 18th, hitting a 3-iron second shot within 3 feet.

The 50-year-old Allem, a three-time winner on the regular U.S. tour, hit a 2-iron to 8 feet for only eagle of the day at the par-5 sixth.

TRINIDAD: West Indies keeps pace with Sri Lanka, replies with 268 for seven on day two

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - Ramnaresh Sarwan hit a fine 57 for the West Indies on Friday, but three wickets from Muttiah Muralitharan ensured that Sri Lanka maintained parity on day two of the second cricket test at the Queen's Park Oval.

The West Indies closed on 268 for seven in reply to the visitor's first innings total of 278.

The home team recevied contributions from most of their top order, but only Sarwan passed a half century. Left-handers Chris Gayle (45), Sewnarine Chattergoon (46) and Devon Smith (47) fell short.

Muralitharan claimed Sarwan, Smith and Marlon Samuels on his way to three for 64. Left-arm seamer Thilan Thushara impressed with two for 72, including the wickets of captain Gayle and veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka stretched their overnight 217 for five to 278 all out.

Chamara Silva shephereded the lower order before he was last out for a topscore of 76. His innings-reviving sixth-wicket stand with Tillekeratne Dilshan (62) was worth 105.

Fidel Edwards led the West Indians with four for 84 and got support from Daren Powell (two for 59) and Jerome Taylor (two for 74).