Video game sparks protests among Haitians in U.S.

Saturday, November 29, 2003

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): Haiti's government is reportedly considering legal action against the US makers of a popular, but violent video-game that encourages users to kill Haitians, Haiti's Nouvelliste newspaper said Thursday.

Since it hit stores across America, 'Grand Theft Auto: Vice City' has become a best-seller.

The government has engaged Haiti's ministry of foreign affairs to pursue its grievance, which it reportedly said threatened the "dignity and security of Haitians around the world."

The controversial video game, which retails in the United States for just over nine dollars, has been sold in Haiti alongside other video games marketed here. It is made by US-based Rockstar Games.

The game's central character, a ex-convict called Tommy Vercetti is charged with his boss, Sonny Forelli, of recovering cash lost in a drug deal that soured.

As he seeks the cash, Vercetti has to evade policemen and Cuban and Haitian gangs who are fighting for supremacy in Miami, Florida, during the 1980s.

In the violent game, Vercetti uses a variety of weapons including a knife, a machete, a gun and a baseball bat. 

The game -- which is popular with teenage Americans -- encourages users to "kill the Haitians."

It has provoked outrage in Haiti and among the Haitian disapora in the United States. It also encourages its users to "kill the Cubans." 

In America, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, has been classified by the Minneapolis-based National Institute on Media and the Family as a "game that dehumanizes all groups of people."

Haiti's former president Leslie Manigat expressed his outrage at the game Tuesday in a statement that said it represented "an invitation to kill all Haitians in order to line the pockets of American business."

The game has sparked protests and demonstrations among Haiti's New York community.

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