One week before Haitian presidential and congressional elections in Haiti, the US State Department warned Americans against traveling to the Caribbean country because of an "unstable security situation" brewing there.
The State Department issued a travel warning Friday advising US citizens in Haiti to establish and maintain contact with the American embassy in Port-au-Prince.
The advisory noted that family members of US government employees already have been cleared to leave Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.
Former president Jean Bertrand Aristide is considered the favorite in the November 26 presidential vote, which is being boycotted by the country's major opposition parties.
Officials in Washington said that the elections, as well as the February inauguration, were likely to spark violence.
"The dialogue of some candidates and government officials has been distinctly anti-American, and the Haitian government has failed to contain or condemn certain violent and dangerous incidents," the State Department warning said.
"Such incidences have included anti-foreigner rhetoric, politically-motivated killings, indiscriminate gunfire ... and incidents directed at diplomatic facilities and vehicles," the statement continued.
Haiti's government and opposition parties have been trying to iron out political strains since last May's run-off legislative elections, which were dominated by Aristide's Lavalas Family party amid accusations of fraud.
Aristide, a former Catholic priest, and Haiti's first fairly elected Haitian president, was voted into office in December 1990, but was toppled by a military coup in 1991. He was restored to power by a US-led invasion in 1994.
Unable to serve another term under Haiti's constitution, Aristide, in February 1996, transferred power to his elected successor, President Rene Preval. Since then the economy has continued to fail, and political assassinations, organized crime and political corruption have been on the rise – WASHINGTON (AFP)
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