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HAITI
Press freedom has considerably lessened in the last six months. A journalist
was hacked to death, many others were beaten up, received death threats or were
subjected to psychological pressure - actions carried out mainly by leaders
of the governing party, known as the Lavalás Family Movement, and mobs
of their supporters.
Although President Jean Bertrand Aristide has stressed that he respects freedom
of the press, journalists have been abused and threatened by police officers
and government officials and access to official news sources has been restricted.
The Haitian Journalists Association complained of at least seven cases of pressure,
abuse and unlawful arrest of reporters. At least 15 journalists fled into exile,
mostly in France, Canada and the United States, after being hounded and receiving
death threats during the time of the attempted coup d'état on December
17.
A large number of journalists were ordered to publicly shout "Long live
Aristide" and members of the presidential palace guard aimed their rifles
at others.
In response to failure by police to follow up and investigate cases of abuse,
the Haitian Journalists Association has filed criminal lawsuits against a large
number of those it holds responsible for such actions.
On December 3, 2001, radio reporter Brignol Lindor was hacked to death in the
city of Petit-Goave, some 40 miles west of Port-au-Prince, by machete-wielding
assailants later identified as members of the ruling Lavalás Family party
who called the victim "an opponent of the government."
A committee made up of representatives of the Haitian Journalists Association
set up to investigate the killing found that it had been politically motivated.
Robert Ménard of the Paris-based organization Reporters Without Borders
and Joseph Guyler Delva, secretary general of the Haitian Journalists Association,
were accused of plotting against the Aristide government by leaders of political
groups affiliated with the Lavalás Family Movement. President Aristide
himself repudiated the allegations.
These pro-governmental groups publicly threatened to burn Delva alive, and no
action has been taken against those responsible for these death threats. Government
and Lavalás Family Movement authorities failed to explicitly condemn
the threats.
The murder of Brignol Lindor, like those of Jean Leopold Dominique on April
3, 2000, and Gerard Denoze on December 15, 2000, remains unsolved.
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