Unrest forces some Haitian Americans to cancel bicentennial visits.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Trenton Daniel

MIAMI _ Mercedes Sam had plans to tour the coastline of her native Haiti for the bicentennial fete of the republic's independence.

The 37-year-old vowed to show her four school-age children and a niece seaside cities that resonate with history. With names like Gonaves, Cap-Hatien, and Arcahaie, the places would tell an epic story of how a colony of slaves imported from Africa defeated a mighty French army to secure freedom.

But Sam decided earlier this month there would be no such stories.

Neither she nor the kids were going to Haiti. Too much unrest, she said.

"I had plans to go with my children ... they were born here, but I wanted to go and show them Haiti," said Sam, a Miramar resident who had already bought herself a $169 airplane ticket. "I was going to show them the different places, the Haiti I know ... But …