AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to Haiti right now to speak about the latest with Reed Lindsay. He’s an independent international reporter who has written for many publications, including The Observer of London, the Boston Globe and Newsday. He joins us from Port-au-Prince. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Reed.

REED LINDSAY: Thanks a lot.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell us the latest at this point?

REED LINDSAY: Well, the latest happening here is yesterday there was a sit-in, or so they called it. It was a demonstration organized by the Group of 184 in front of the United Nations to protest what they feel is a lack of U.N. action in the face of recent kidnappings and to call for stronger action in Cite Soleil, to lift Cite Soleil, or as Reginald Boulos, the President of the Chamber of Commerce said, to "cleanse" Cite Soleil of criminals there.

AMY GOODMAN: And the elections that — well, four times put off — the latest is they will take place February 7. Who will run?

REED LINDSAY: Yeah, those — that date seems pretty certain now. There’s not a lot of talk at this point about changing the date again, and — but the clear-cut favorite is Rene Preval, and there have been some polls, and he’s been leading in polls. But, you know, just walking in any poor neighborhood in Port-au-Prince and asking people who are they going to vote for, there’s either — some people are very apathetic and disillusioned with the whole process and aren’t going to vote and don’t like anybody, and there are many who will vote for Rene Preval. But it’s very difficult to find people who are enthusiastic about any other of the 35 candidates.

AMY GOODMAN: And the latest U.N. admission that in a recent raid of Cite Soleil, that they killed a number of innocent civilians there, something that we reported on Democracy Now!, that the people of Cite Soleil have been saying for quite a long time, as well as the latest information about the death of Bacellar?

REED LINDSAY: Right. Well, you know, I was in Cite Soleil the other day, and the hospital there, the public hospital — it’s the only public hospital in Cite Soleil; it’s an enormous neighborhood — has received a record number of bullet wound victims the last month and a half, about nearly 100 since the beginning of December, and they keep coming in every day. And you go into the hospital, the wing of the hospital where the bullet wound victims are, and every single one [inaudible], they say they’ve been shot by the United Nations, and [no audio]

AMY GOODMAN: Reed, are you there?

REED LINDSAY: — It’s difficult to prove whether it’s the U.N. that’s shooting them. But on the other hand, with the amount of shooting that is going on every day, I think that some of these people, you have to believe what they’re saying.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Reed Lindsay, we have to end it there. We’ve come to the end of the program. We’ll continue to report on Haiti this week here on Democracy Now! Reed Lindsay, speaking to us from Port-au-Prince.