Miami, November 20, 2024—Gang members shot at journalist Wandy Charles and his family outside his home in a suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince, on November 11, shortly before the local gang overran the area. Gang violence has again surged through sections of Haiti’s capital after Prime Minister Garry Conille was ousted on November 11, six months after he took office.
In a separate attack, suspected gang members burned the home of Lookens Jean-Baptiste, a reporter with radio Tropic FM, on November 5 in Port-au-Prince’s Fort National district. “They found out I was a journalist, and they think we all have connections with the police,” Jean-Baptiste told CPJ.
“We are concerned by the surge in gang violence in Haiti and general instability following the collapse of Prime Minister Garry Conille’s government, which have both made the already tenuous situation in Haiti all the more dangerous for the country’s reporters,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, from New York. “We are concerned by the recent attack against journalist Wandy Charles and the burning of the home of reporter Lookens Jean-Baptiste. Journalists must be able to report on the recent surge in violence without fear of gang retaliation.”
Charles, editor-in-chief of the independent local media outlet Vant Bèf Info, told CPJ that he was wearing his flak jacket marked “Press,” but he quickly removed it, fearing the shooters were targeting him for his work as a journalist.
“The gangs don’t want us to criticize them or give a voice to the victims, or the police, or the government,” Charles told CPJ. “The bandits have their own propaganda organ, and the press often goes against what they say — it bothers them.”
His brother was treated at a hospital for gunshot wounds to the arm and leg, Charles told CPJ, adding that his brother was given a blood transfusion and is now in stable condition.
Local media reported that the shooters were members of the Kraze Baryè gang led by Vitel’homme Innocent, who is wanted by the FBI for kidnapping and murder.
Charles told CPJ that gangs have attacked his family at least four other times, most recently in March when their home was ransacked, looted, and then set on fire.
In recent years, the unrest in Haiti has made it one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. Haiti ranked No. 1 in CPJ’s 2024 impunity index, a ranking of nations where journalists’ murderers are most likely to go free.
Editor’s note: The fourth paragraph was updated to correct the outlet name.