Overview by Carlos Lauría Journalists throughout the Americas came under increased attack in 2004 for reporting on political corruption, drug trafficking, and organized crime. Although democratic rights have been expanding in the region, press freedom has not always improved as a result.
Haiti Supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide attacked opposition journalists in the months prior to the uprising that forced Aristide from power in February. After the president fled the country, rebel groups targeted pro-Aristide journalists, particularly in Haiti’s rural northern and central regions. Violence against journalists was especially intense in January and February, when the…
New York, February 9, 2005—A Haitian radio reporter was wounded in the arm in a drive-by shooting in front of the station’s studios in the capital, Port-au-Prince, on Friday. Raoul Saint-Louis, a reporter with the private station Radio Megastar, has since moved from his home in fear for his life, The Associated Press reported. “We…
FEBRUARY 3, 2005 Posted: February 10, 2005 Raoul Saint-Louis, Radio Megastar ATTACKED Saint-Louis, a reporter with the private station Radio Megastar, was wounded in the arm in a drive-by shooting in front of the station’s studios in the capital, Port-au-Prince. He has since moved from his home in fear for his life, The Associated Press…
JANUARY 14, 2005 Posted: January 27, 2005 Claude Bernard Serant, Le Nouvelliste Jonel Juste, Le Nouvelliste ATTACKED Serant and Juste, reporters with the Port-au-Prince-based daily Le Nouvelliste, were beaten and robbed while covering an operation by U.N. peacekeepers in a shantytown in Haiti’s capital. The U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti was removing burned vehicles and…
Remarks by Ann Cooper, Executive Director of CPJ At this event we celebrate the courage of individual journalists and we demonstrate our collective determination to thwart forces that would silence the press. Those collective efforts over the past 12 months have helped win the early release of journalists imprisoned for their work in Tunisia, in…
New York, August 11, 2004—More than seven months after escaping from the Port-au-Prince National Penitentiary, two of the men charged in the April 2000 killing of prominent journalist Jean Léopold Dominique have been recaptured. Dymsley Millien was arrested August 1 in Port-au-Prince, and Jeudi-Jean Daniel was captured August 8 in the southern city of Jacmel,…
Under Haiti’s new transitional government, journalists-especially those who supported former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide-remain at risk in a politically polarized environment. By Carlos Lauria and Jean-Roland Chery Nearly five months after the ouster of President Jean Bertrand Aristide, journalists in Haiti still confront great dangers in a country marked by lawlessness. Before the unrest began in…