Haiti, US seek convicted child molester who violated Virginia prison parole

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — US and Haitian police are hunting an American convicted of child molestation after he violated parole and entered Haiti on fraudulent travel documents, the US Embassy said yesterday.

Mario “Tony” Leyva, 57, was a self-ordained evangelist minister who travelled the eastern United States and Haiti in the l980s, conducting revivals in tents.

He convinced parents to allow their young sons to travel with him on tours, during which he sexually assaulted the boys and sold some of them off as prostitutes, according to court documents.

Leyva, a Cuban-American, was arrested in 1988 in Roanoke, Virginia, and pleaded guilty to molesting more than 100 teenage boys in North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Ohio and Indiana.

He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and interstate transportation of minors for prostitution.

After serving 11 years of a 20-year prison term, he was released from Virginia state prison on parole in April 2002, but last month fled the Roanoke area where he was required to live under supervision until 2008.

Chief minister of Turks and Caicos resigns

GRAND TURK, Turks and Caicos (AP) — Chief Minister Derek Taylor submitted his resignation yesterday, putting an end to speculation that he might challenge results of a by-election that shifted government control to another party.

In a letter to British-appointed Gov James Poston, Taylor said his government would cede control on Friday, clearing the way for Progressive National Party leader Michael Misick to become chief minister.

The new governing party has yet to announce a swearing-in date for Misick.

His party seized the majority in Turks and Caicos island’s government by winning both races in last Thursday’s by-elections, giving the party eight seats in the 13-member Legislative Council.

Taylor’s People’s Democratic Movement, which had controlled government for eight years, holds the remaining five seats.

Members of Taylor’s party had pledged to challenge the results of the by-election, regardless of the outcome, because they said the voting lists were inaccurate.

Chief Justice Richard Ground last week conceded the lists contained flaws, but said there was not enough time for the required seven-day notice of change.

About 50 names were challenged out of some 982 voters in the two constituencies — Five Cays on Providenciales island and the northern constituency of South Caicos island.

The territory called the by-elections after its Supreme Court cancelled results in the two constituencies where, it said, there was evidence of bribery or irregularities during the April general ballot.

Candidates from Taylor’s party had won the two seats in April.

Misick’s party, which campaigned with the motto “Turks and Caicos Islanders First,” argued that native islanders should be given priority in jobs and resources over expatriates.

An estimated 15,000 of the territory’s 35,000 residents are foreigners — including Canadian and US expatriates who come with foreign companies attracted by the territory’s low-tax offshore industry and lack of personal taxes.

Others include Jamaicans, Dominicans, and thousands of Haitians seeking better lives from the economy based on tourism and banking.

Chinese engineers to rebuild damaged hydroelectric plant

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — The government has asked China to send engineers to its southwest frontier to rebuild a small hydroelectric station that collapsed two months ago in mudslides.

The team, due to arrive next month, include the same engineers that built the Moco Moco Hydropower Station in Lethem, a cattle town located on Guyana’s border with Brazil, according to reports from the government’s information service yesterday.

The power plant collapsed when heavy rains in June caused mudslides that damaged its foundations. Lethem — a town of 10,000 — was plunged into darkness for two weeks until the government sent generators to provide limited power for 12 hours a day.

Repairs could cost up to US$500,000 (Guyanese $89 million), Prime Minister Samuel Hinds said, according to the report. No further information was available.