From: bruceg%sfu.ca@UMCVMB.missouri.edu (Bruce Girard)
Subject: Haiti- journalists under threat
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: University of Missouri
Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@UMCVMB.missouri.edu>
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 16:52:46 GMT

/* Written  6:18 pm  Apr 14, 1992 by web:amarcho in cdp:amarc.radio */
/* ---------- "Haitian Journalists Under Threat" ---------- */
Attacks Against the Haitian Press Since the Sept. 30th Coup
d'Etat

(This is a condensed version of an article produced by the
National Coalition for Haitian Refugees: NCHR). For more
information, contact NCHR, at:  16 East 42nd St, 3rd floor New
York, NY
10007, USA
Phone: (212)867-0020; Fax: (212) 867-1668

During the six months of killings, arrests, threats, beatings,
kidnappings, searches and confiscations since the coup, the
Haitian press has alternated between news blackouts and strict
self-censorship. In a March 24th Village Voice article entitled
"In Haitim the Goons are Back," a veteran Reuters reporter
explained, "Information itself has become illegal."

Killings, Kidnappings and Disappearances:  Two journalists,
Jacques Simone, and Television Nationale (TNH) cameraman Montlouis
Lherisse, were murdered Simeon was abducted on the night of Sept.
30th; Lherisse disappeared on dec. 23rd, and his body found three
days later.  Writer/ scolar Guy Laraque, also a contributor to a
daily newspaper, was shot and killed on December 7. Radio
Galaxie's director Felix Lamy, was kidnapped by armed men on Dec.
10th; he is now presumed dead.

Arrests:  Twenty-one journalists were arrested or detained for
questionning. On Nov.  21, police brutally broke up a press
conference and demonstration sponsored by FENEH (National
Federation of Haitian Students); 130 students and four journalists
were arrested. All have been released except for Jean Mario Paul,
a Radio Antilles correspondent.

Threats and Harassment:  Death threats and warnings of arrest for
individual journalists and threats of armed attack on radio
stations have become routine. The most frequent targets have been
journalists who worked for the state-owned media under Aristide's
administration, and those working for Port-au-Prince's most
popular staions (Radio Cacique, Radio Antilles, and Radio
Haiti-Inter) and for Collectif Quisqueya, an independent
production team.

Armed Attacks on Radio Stations:  On Sept. 30th in Port-au-Prince,
armed soldiers forced their way into Radio Cacique, spraying the
premises with gunfire, wrecking equipment and causing staff to
flee. Radios Antilles, Metropole and Haiti-Inter were also fired
on and closed down. In addition, Collectif Quisqueya alleged that
some of Radio Plus' transmitting equipment was sabotaged that
morning. On Oct. 4th, following a broadcast on an army massacre in
a nearby neighborhood, soldiers invaded Radio Lumiere and
partially destroyed its studios. Less than a week later, Radio
Antilles was pillaged by armed men. On Oct. 28th, in Jeremie,
soldiers strafed Radio Tet Ansanm with gunfire and destroyed two
transmitters and an antenna. As of this month, only five (all in
Port-au-Prince) of the 31 radio stations in Haiti's principal
cities are broadcasting any news.

Radio Enriquillo:  Radio Enriquillo is a Catholic Church-run
station based in the Dominican Republic. It has beamed news
broadcasts in Creole into Haiti since the coup.  Over the past six
months the station has been a principal source of dependable,
uncensored news for Haitians. Enriquillo has also featured
frequent interviews with Aristide and his supporters.  Starting
last November, this station also became the target of anonymous
threats and harassment. Its broadcasts were jammed in Haiti's
capital from mid-Nov. through Dec. On Feb. 14th, the Dominican
Republic's director of telecommunications, citing complaints from
the de facto Haitian government of Enriquillo's "subversive"
broadcasts, ordered the station to stop transmitting its Creole
programme. The station has sidestepped the restrictions by setting
the news programme to music; station employees sing all news
bulletins, press releases, declarations, etc.
     -30-


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