
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 25, 1994                    TAG: 9406250219 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A7    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: 940625                                 LENGTH: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

U.S. BANS DAILY FLIGHTS FROM HAITI

{LEAD} A nervous Haiti watched its ragged ties to the outside world stretch thinner Friday, when daily U.S. flights were halted in a new attempt to end the military's harsh rule.

Effective at midnight Friday, flights between the Caribbean nation and the United States were banned. All U.S.-Haitian financial transactions were halted Wednesday. The Clinton administration imposed both sanctions.

{REST} While one-way passengers sweated in long lines for Friday's last flights, authorities tried to crack the financial ban with a court order.

The court demanded that the Port-au-Prince offices of Citibank and Bank of Boston reopen. Both shut down Thursday and have stayed closed in compliance with Clinton's measures, denying thousands of depositors access to their money.

``There is real panic'' among Haitians who depend on imports, exports, or travel to U.S. cities and commerce with U.S. banks, ousted elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's caretaker Prime Minister Robert Malval said Friday.

``People are beginning to get the message that this time, this is serious,'' he said.

On the surface, however, life seemed no better nor worse than usual in this hot, dusty port that is home to a million people, most of them desperately poor, with little formal education or job skills.

The two daily flights between Port-au-Prince and Miami represented Haiti's most important link with the outside world, but some less frequent international flights continued to operate.

by CNB