Port-au-Prince, Haiti — In a fresh blow to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government, the U.S. ambassador said Thursday there is evidence Haitian government officials paid thugs to attack a recent meeting of civic leaders.
More than 40 were injured.
Ambassador Brian Dean Curran said the findings of an investigation by the embassy were sent to the U.S. State Department.
"We've developed quite a dossier on what actually happened," Mr. Curran told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Hundreds of business, community and civic leaders were gathering for a July 12 meeting to talk about restoring law and order in Haiti when about 50 Aristide partisans began hurling rocks.
The injured included more than 30 of members of civic groups, six Haitian journalists and three police officers.
Observers from the Organization of American States, France, the Bahamas and the United States were on hand for the meeting.
Two OAS vehicles were stoned, and at least two representatives sustained minor injuries.
Johnny Occilius, a former municipal employee in Cite Soleil, said that Mayor Fritz Pierre gave about $12,500 (U.S.) to two gang leaders to pay followers to break up the meeting.
Mr. Occilius, in an interview with the independent Radio Kiskeya on Tuesday, said said police were ordered not to use tear gas.
The governing party mayor, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, has denied the allegations, saying Mr. Occilius was fired in November for falsifying documents and that he made the claim to get a U.S. visa.
Mr. Curran said Mr. Occilius has since fled Haiti for the United States.
He said that his story matches other reports.
"We talked to a lot of people afterwards. We took it very seriously that our diplomats were attacked," Mr. Curran said. "Occilius has pretty much the same story."
His allegations are "credible," he said.
Mr. Occilius said the mayor received instructions from Jean Oriel, chief of National Palace security.
Earlier this year, the United States canceled Mr. Oriel's travel visa saying he was suspected of drug dealing.
Mr. Oriel denied the charges.
Aristide spokesman Haendel Carre said Thursday that Mr. Occilius' allegations would be answered with a legal response.
"The affair is being studied," he said.
The opposition said the violence proved elections are impossible under Mr. Aristide, whose term ends in 2006.
In two resolutions last year, the OAS urged the government to create a peaceful environment for legislative elections that Mr. Aristide has pledged this year.
The government and opposition have been locked in a dispute over new balloting since flawed legislative elections in May 2000 that opposition parties said were rigged.
