CARIBBEAN CORNER

Compiled By Neil S. Friedman

from AP Newsfinder

Pre-Inaugural Violence

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ The Haitian government last Saturday blamed the opposition for orchestrating four bomb attacks that left two seriously injured just weeks ahead of Jean Bertrand Aristide’s inauguration.

The attacks occurred last Friday — two in downtown Port-au-Prince, the capital, and two in suburban Petionville.

Police arrested one man in connection with one of two bombings in Petionville. The government said the man _ who has not been charged _ belonged to the opposition alliance. The opposition, however, said the man was not a member and denied any involvement in the attacks.

Just weeks from Aristide’s Feb. 7 inauguration, tensions have been building in the capital where an alliance of opposition groups are planning to write a platform for a national unity government that would hold quick general elections.

All of Haiti’s main opposition parties boycotted the Nov. 26 presidential elections, claiming May local and legislative elections were rigged to give Aristide’s Lavalas Family party 80 percent of seats. Aristide won with nearly 92 percent of the vote over six little-known opponents.

Grouped in a 15-party alliance called Convergence, the opposition will hold a national convention next week. Delegates will select the members of an alternative government and write the guiding lines of its program.

Volcano To Remain Active

BRADES, Montserrat — Scientists said Montserrat’s volcano — active since 1995 — will probably continue spitting out ash and hot rocks for several more years.

While most volcanoes remain active only for a short time, the Soufriere Hills volcano seems to be entering a rare volcanic phase scientists call a "persistently active state," volcanologist Steve Sparks, who with other scientists finished a new risk assessment last Thursday.

Historical studies show 90 percent of the world’s volcanoes erupt for less than five years before becoming dormant again, said Sparks of Bristol University in England. Those that erupt longer than five years usually do so for several more years, he said.

The Soufriere Hills volcano roared to life in 1995 after lying dormant for 400 years, spreading ash over the British Caribbean island territory, killing 19 people and destroying the capital, Plymouth.

The southern half of the island became largely uninhabitable and Montserrat’s population shrank by more than half.

The volcano also sends down avalanches of incandescent rocks, but because of the shape of a dome of hard lava that has formed on the summit, the rocks usually descend harmlessly on the east side of the volcano, far from inhabited areas.

March Against U.S. Laws

HAVANA, Cuba — One day after the burial of two military cadets, who died trying to leave Cuba as stowaways in a jetliner’s wheel well, President Fidel Castro led thousands of people in a march last Friday to protest American policies he blames for the deaths.

The government blamed the Cuban Adjustment Act in particular for the Christmas Eve deaths of military school students Maikel Fonseca, 16, and Alberto Vazquez, 17, who tried to leave the country illegally as stowaways in a British Airways jetliner.

The boys died from lack of oxygen and subfreezing temperatures during the flight to London. Cuba says that the teens had sought to go to the United States, citing a farewell letter from one boy to his family.

As in past marches held over the past year, marchers vigorously waved tiny red, white and blue Cuban flags as they crammed the Malecon.

Described by official radio and television as "the first march of the victorious revolution in the new millennium,’’ the gathering was being held to draw attention to the Cuban Adjustment Act, an American law that Havana says encourages its citizens to undertake risky journeys to flee.

The 1966 law allows Cubans who reach American soil to apply for U.S. residency. Illegal immigrants to the United States from most other countries are usually immediately deported.

These marches recall during the international custody battle over the Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez, who is now 7. Elian’s father returned with the boy to Cuba in late June after winning a lengthy legal battle against Miami relatives, who fought to keep him in the United States.

After the Elian case was settled, Havana said the protests would continue to demand an end to the Cuban Adjustment Act and other American policies that target the island.