Haitian workers nearly lynch engineers on pay dispute

SANTIAGO. – A mob of Haitians today tried to lynch several engineers who allegedly owe two weeks of back pay for working in the housing project Paradise III, in Cerro Alto, Santiago.

Stones and hammers in hand, around 180 construction workers went to the project to violently demand payment and managed to injure engineer assistant Santo Mendoza in the chest, who was taken to a hospital.

The engineers managed to lock themselves up in the site’s mobile office, and called the police, which sent more than 20 agents who arrived on the scene minutes later and cordoned off the trailer to protect them.

"We were saved by a miracle because we locked ourselves in the office," said project manager José Miguel Vargas, quoted by diariolibre.com, who promised to pay the debt on Friday.

Several of the protesters were arrested, while several of agents remain at the construction site to prevent further violence.

The Haitians say they haven’t been paid for more than one month and agreed not to resume the work until they get their money.

For the last several years engineers and construction site bosses fail to pay Haitian workers, who are then rounded up by Immigration agents on tips by the engineers themselves.