New York's Mayor Bloomberg to visit Jamaica, but postpones Haiti visit

Saturday, January 10, 2004

NEW YORK, USA (AFP): Political violence in Haiti has prompted New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to postpone a visit there he had planned for Sunday, but he will still visit Jamaica as planned, his office announced Friday.

New York is home to a large number of Haitian and Jamaican immigrants.

Bloomberg is postponing the trip "in light of recent conflict in Haiti," as well as the recommendations from the US embassy in Port-au-Prince, his office said in a statement Friday.

Bloomberg however "still plans to visit the nation during its 200th birthday celebration," and will host a reception in honor of Haiti's independence bicentennial at the governor's mansion in New York next week. 

In Kingston, Bloomberg is scheduled to meet Jamaican Governor General Howard Cooke, the mayor of Kingston and business and political officials.

According to the mayor's office, there are some 300,000 New Yorkers of Haitian descent, and 500,000 of Jamaican descent. 

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