Amid Violence In Haiti, 13 N.J. Volunteers Arrive Home

NEW YORK -- Thirteen volunteers from the tri-state area have arrived home from Haiti after being trapped for days in the violence and food riots gripping the impoverished country.

The 13 volunteers are mostly medical professionals who were trapped in a remote village of Haiti for six days. The group was on a mission sponsored by the The Church of the Presentation located in Bergen County, which has sent such missions to the country since 2002.

Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, has been gripped by violence and looting over the past week because of rising food prices.

On Saturday, Haitian lawmakers dismissed Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis to try and quell widespread anger.

 

On Friday, the U.S. State Department issued a statement banning government officials from traveling to Haiti following the violent demonstrations.

 

Haiti is particularly affected because it imports nearly all of its food, including more than 80 percent of its rice. Much of its once-productive farmland has been abandoned as farmers struggle to grow crops in soil decimated by erosion, deforestation, flooding and tropical storms.