Press freedom is facing a critical situation, marked by the expansion of armed gangs and deteriorating security conditions for journalists and media outlets. Journalism has become a high-risk profession: journalists face threats, kidnappings, assaults, and killings, as well as severe restrictions on their ability to travel and access sources.
Numerous media outlets have closed or abandoned their facilities, and many journalists have gone into exile. Even under these conditions, the press continues to play an essential role in informing the public about high-risk areas and documenting a humanitarian crisis that has displaced approximately 1.4 million people. In May, the United Nations reported that 14 media workers had been killed since 2021.
Violence by armed gangs is drastically reducing the space for journalism.
Journalist and director of community radio station Ti Boukan FM, Joseph Willard Vancol, was kidnapped on August 20 during a gang attack on the facilities of the nongovernmental organization ITECA (l’Institut de technologie et d’animation) in the commune of Gressier, in Port-au-Prince. His body was found on September 9. The station, which had already been operating on a limited basis because of threats, subsequently stopped broadcasting, depriving the community of its only local radio station.
His killing sparked a strong reaction from press, social, and human rights organizations, which called for justice and highlighted his more than 40-year record of defending rural communities and community media. The crime occurred amid a new wave of gang violence in Gressier that left more than 20 people dead and hundreds displaced between August 17 and 21.
Journalist Wesly Renaud Jean of Radio Télé Métropole was kidnapped on September 6 and remains missing. The whereabouts of journalists Junior Célestin and Osnel Espérance, who have been missing since March and are presumed to have been executed, also remain unknown.
On September 2, three photojournalists—Odelyn Joseph of AP; Clarens Siffroy of AFP; and Jonet St. Elois, an EFE contributor—were assaulted while covering a funeral in the commune of Kenscoff, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. The photographers were subjected to physical and verbal attacks by attendees and relatives of the deceased, who lashed out at the press during the coverage.
The deterioration of security also has implications for the electoral process. Haiti officially maintains December 13, 2026, as the date for the first round of presidential and legislative elections, but the electoral calendar faces obstacles related to insecurity, voter registration, territorial organization, and electoral rules that are still under discussion.
Haiti has not held general elections in more than a decade, and the possibility of holding the elections will depend on whether security conditions allow citizens to register, campaign, travel, and vote. Gang violence, which according to the OAS particularly affects Port-au-Prince, as well as a lack of resources and electoral documentation, leaves uncertainty over whether the elections will take place on the scheduled date.
