Americans in Haiti charged

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Two Americans jailed in Haiti were charged with conspiracy for participating in a street march that pressed for the return of the country’s disbanded army, a Haitian government official said Sunday.

Haiti’s Secretary of State for Public Security Reginald Delva said Jason William Petrie and Steven Parker Shaw were charged Saturday night because of their involvement in last week’s march. Petrie, 39, is from Barberton, Ohio; and Shaw, 57, is from Dighton, Mass.

“They were providing logistical support,” Delva said by telephone.

Authorities say Petrie and Shaw were drivers for a group of ex-soldiers and their young followers who marched in Haiti’s capital Friday for the army’s return.

The demonstration drew hundreds of supporters who donned mismatching military uniforms, including Petrie, who wore an army T-shirt, and Shaw, who wore camouflaged pants.

Petrie, an occasional interpreter for foreigners because of his two-decade involvement in Haiti, told the Associated Press while he was in jail that he knew the leaders of the band of the would-be soldiers and described them as friends. He was merely lending a hand, he said. Shaw said he was helping Petrie.

“There wasn’t some American plotting against the government or causing instability. I think he got in a little over his head,” the brother of Petrie, Ben, said by telephone from his home in Ohio.

“I don’t know what he was thinking but I can say unequivocally that there was no conspiracy.”