From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 25 Jan 93 10:10 PST
Subject: HUMAN RIGHTS: THE NIGHT IS NOT YET
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476701034:000:6354
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Jan 25 10:10:00 1993


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: HUMAN RIGHTS: THE NIGHT IS NOT YET 

/* Written 12:16 am  Jan 25, 1993 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in
igc:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1993, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: HUMAN RIGHTS: THE NIGHT IS NOT YET OVER FOR HAITI'S
JOURNALISTS

an inter press service feature

by kenneth blackman

port-au-prince, jan 22 (ips) -- the nightmare that began for
haiti's journalists on sep. 30, 1991 is not yet over especially
for those who worked outside of the capital.

in port-au-prince, dictated and self-imposed censorship, the
occasional house search and threats are some of the realities
journalists live with, members of the group for reflection and
action for press freedom (gralip) told ips.

the climate in the capital makes it hard for journalists to
operate the way they should, according to gralip's ronald colbert
and carole pierre-paul jacob, although the de facto government
feels things have improved greatly.

''the press operates freely here. there are even some people who
leave haiti and denounce the situation abroad, but who return and
circulate freely here,'' former speaker of the house of
representatives duly brutus told ips.

but gralip said that media bosses generally ensure that their
journalists toe an often undeclared but known political line.

some are motivated by sympathy for haiti's de facto rulers.
attacks on the media after the sep. 30, 1991 coup that toppled the
government of president jean-bertrand aristide have rendered
others extremely cautious.

this has led some media workers, such as two journalists who
worked for the private ''radio metropole'' to leave haiti rather
than toe the line, colbert and pierre-paul jacob told ips.

but the situation is much worse in rural areas, where media
workers havehbecome an all but extinct breed.

before the coup, scores of rural correspondents formed the
backbone of a network of private and state radios on which people
outside port-au-prince depended for news on the country and on
their region.

but most of the radio stations which operated in the provinces
were forced to close down in the aftermath of the overthrow. many
have not reopened.

those that have do not carry local news. some relay international
news, but do so in french, which the vast majority of rural
inhabitants do not understand, since they speak only the local
vernacular, creole. (more/ips)

human rights: the night is not yet over for haiti's journ (2)

even if they wanted to broadcast local news, finding
correspondents would be a difficult task.

many of the former correspondents have gone into hiding.  their
usual place of refuge is the capital, which is where 'rene' and
'paul' fled when local strongmen visited their homes to look for
them.

the two correspondents, who requested that their real names be
kept secret, worked for radio stations in the southeast of the
country.

they feel they became wanted men because they trod on powerful
corns when reporting on issues in their districts.

''in haiti many rural correspondents were the favourites of the
majority of people in their zones because they often disclosed the
major problems affecting eachizone and, in particular, the
problems of the underprivileged,'' paul told ips.

denouncing abuses earned them the wrath of people like large
landowners and rural policemen, they said.

''this is why correspondents were forced to leave their areas and
live in town after the coup,'' said rene.

after the overthrow the military went to correspondents' homes,
imprisoned some and threatened the relatives of others when they
did not find them.

''this continues up to today,'' said paul, who had to move out
from a room he rented in the capital after military operatives
from his area went there. they did not find him but they
mishandled his wife, who had been visiting him.

the situation in the provinces is quite different from that in
port-au-prince, according to gralip.

''in the provinces, one has little room. everyone knows everyone
else and so a journalist who took positions or who just gave news
objectively ran many more risks than in the capital, where there
is room for manoeuvre,'' pierre-paul jacob said.

another important factor is isolation. in the town of hinche,
administrative capital of the department of lhe same name, there
is only one functional telephone and people queue up to make
calls.  (more/ips)

human rights: the night is not yet over for haiti's journ (3)

''in such circumstances, the journalist is extremely vulnerable,''
colbert said, adding that the radio has been the medium worst hit
by repression.

whegeas leftistnnewspapers printed in the u.s. city of miami
reappeared on the streets just weeks after the coup, many radio
stations have remained off the air. many were razed or pillaged.

the reason for the tougher action on the radios was that, with
over 80 percent of haiti's seven million people illiterate, the
radio has a much wider audience than the print media.

attacks against rjdio stations did not start with the military
intervention in september.

for example, in 1986 a radio station carried news on a
demonstration in which about 200,000 people participated. it was
promptly showered with machine-gun fire.

similar incidents took place in june 1987, in november 1987 and in
1988, but the attacks gained in intensity after the coup.

on sep. 30, 1991, for example, ''radio lumiere,'' a church-owned
station, was destroyed after it carried a report that 40 young
people had been massacred by the army.

in rural haiti, even those who can read and write have little
access to newspapers, periodicals or magazines.

''any piece of paper is seen as subversive,'' said pierre-paul
jacob.

''yet, the authorities have not been able to stamp out
information,'' said pierre-paul jacob who, like colbert, is a
member of gralip's directorate.

''news gets around. it's a risk to drivenaround with documents in
rural areas, but it is being done,'' she said.

in the meantime, rene and paul live on what friends are willing or
able to give them. without work, in hiding and unable to provide
for their families, they and scores of other rural media workers
live a nightmare and long for the day it will end.
(end/ips/kb/da/93)