Travel Ban Placed on 150 Prominent Haitians

Newly installed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Friday barred former interim President Ertha Pascal-Trouillot and more than 150 other prominent Haitians from leaving the country.

Moving quickly to take advantage of his popularity, the fiery priest disclosed also in an interview that he had chosen Rene Preval, a close friend and bakery owner with no government experience, as his prime minister.

The travel ban was issued by government prosecutor Bayard Vincent to comply with a judicial commission investigating corruption and repression by the Duvalier family dictatorship and successor regimes, the government said.