Haiti

This period was characterized by a high number attacks on journalists as a result of the tension arising from the election campaign extended from December 7 to March 20, when the second round was held. On December 7, as riots were shaking the country following the announcement of results of the first round of the general elections, several journalists and news company employees were attacked by supporters of presidential candidate Michel Joseph Martelly, who went on to win in the second round of polling. On December 9, marked by increasing violence in Port-au-Prince, Esther Dorestal Esther Dorestal of the privately-owned Radio Metropole was beaten by young Martelly supporters as she was on her way to work on a motorbike-taxi. That same day these people robbed journalist Patricia Cerezo of Radio Galaxy outside the former headquarters of the Provincial Electoral Council. In another development, an attack was reported on a cameraman with the online news agency Haiti Press Network, after he was spotted outside the National Palace and accused of sucking up to the government. Reuters news agency meanwhile reported one of its journalists had been robbed. On March 9 Reuters correspondent and secretary general of the local organization SOS Periodistas, Guyler C. Delva, was beaten by security guards at the Karibe Convention Center, the site of a pubic debate between Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly, candidates to succeed President René Preval. Delva showed his press pass to the guards, but they denied him entry into the room where the debate was taking place. An altercation ensued between Delva and the security guards, ending up with him being beaten up in front of his colleagues. Delva filed a formal complaint against his assailants with a Port-au-Prince civil court. That same day, following the televised debate presidential candidate Martelly explicitly warned journalist Gotson Pierre about possible reprisals “on the street” after the reporter and editor of the online news agency Alter Presse had interviewed him about his real estate bankruptcies in Florida. The threat recalled the violence suffered by several journalists during demonstrations of support for the candidate the day after publication of the preliminary results of the first round of elections on December 7. On March 20 the correspondent of Radio Kiskeya on Gonâiva Island, Jean Preston Toussaint, was attacked by presumed members of the INITE party, the station reported. There was a certain tension on the island, where armed men opened fire on polling stations. On March 28 the president and general manager of Radio Télévision Caraïbes (RTVC) and the head of other news media outlets in Port-au-Prince, Patrick Moussignac, formally requested protection by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) for staff and plants of those media following death threats and threats of sabotage received since the start of the campaign for the second round of presidential and congressional elections on March 20. Moussignac in a letter to the U.N. head of mission, Edmond Mulet, specified that the threats in question referred to the RTVC plant in Port-au-Prince, the building located in Petion-Ville where several radio stations for which he is responsible operate, and the place where those stations’ transmitters are situated in Boutillers. He said that rumors about the risk of attacks were persistent. In addition to anonymous phone calls received by it RTVC was declared an “enemy media outlet” in at least two public appearances of presidential candidate Martelly. His supporters have accused RTVC of not having agreed to broadcast their candidate campaign announcements and instead to have actively supported the candidacy of his rival, Mirlande Manigat.