ARMY RULE IN HAITI

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28284, 23 May 1957, Page 13

ARMY RULE IN HAITI

Election May Be Put Off (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) NEW YORK, May 22. Haiti’s new military regime today faced a general strike in Port au Prince and the threat that it might spread to the rest of the turbulent Negro republic, said reports from Port au Prince. An Army spokesman said troops would be used only if disorders developed, and no action could be taken to prevent the strikes. Observers said it remained to be seen whether Haiti’s politicians, whose rivalry for the presidency has kept the country in turmoil for six months, could paralyse Haiti. Business establishments and the Post Office closed dewn in Port au Prince yesterday shortly after the army chief of staff, BrigadierGeneral Leon Cantave, took control of the country In a bloodless manoeuvre, General Cantave dissolved the Executive Council which had incurred growing opposition ever since leading Presidential candidates chose it on April 5 to. rule the country. Acting with the solid support of his army officers, General Cantave declared the military was taking control to prevent anarchy and economic ruin. General Cantave, who had been ordered to resign oy the Executive Council, pledged that the Army would step out of the governmental picture as soon as a provisional President was elected. General Cantave said a convention of leaders from all provinces would be called quickly to select a provisional chief executive. If chosen, he would be the fourth temporary President since early in December. It appeared likely chat the Presidential elections first scheduled for April and now set for June 16, would be postponed again. The Army proclaimed a nightly curfew, banned broadcasts of a political or subversive nature and imposed censorship on all out going press dispatches. It also declared that no temporary government could remove General Cantave before the expiration of his two-year term as Chief of Staff. The military take-over was hailed outside Port au Prince in the five provinces, where factions opposing the Executive Council had been demanding that the Army step in. (Earlier Report, Page 19.)