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Since coup attempt on Dec. 17, attacks on press have escalated

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

jcharles@herald.com

As many as 40 Haitian journalists are hiding in fear for their lives. Twelve have fled the country, with four of them now in South Florida. None wants to become the next Brignol Lindor, the Haitian radio reporter hacked to death last month.

The journalists say their fears have escalated since the failed Dec. 17 coup attempt in which armed men stormed the National Palace in Port-au-Prince trying to oust Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Following the coup attempt, dozens of Haitian journalists sought refuge in foreign embassies and many more went into hiding -- the result, they say, of increasing attacks against them by popular organizations loyal to Aristide and his Lavalas Family Party.

Phars Duverné and Yves Clausel Alexis decided to make a run for Miami after an angry mob held Uzis and 9mms to their heads outside Radio Vision 2000 in Port-au-Prince in the hours following the coup attempt. They demanded the two radio journalists beg for their lives by declaring: ``Long live Aristide. Long live Lavalas.''

``We did it,'' Duverné said in an interview last week. ``They let us leave, but they told us, `If you ever give news critical of the government, we will kill you. We will Brignol Lindor you.' ''

That warning was enough, Duverné says, for him to grab his wife and two small children and seek protection behind the walls of a foreign embassy that he declines to identify. He is now living temporarily in Palm Beach County, and Alexis is in Miami.

IT'S `UNBEARABLE'

So far, six journalists have arrived in the United States, settling in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties in Florida, as well as in New York and New Jersey. Of the others who have left Haiti, one went to Spain, another to Guadeloupe and four -- including another Vision 2000 journalist -- went to France.

Aggression against journalists in Haiti and elsewhere is not a new phenomenon. In 2001 alone, 52 members of the media were killed, according to the Austria-based International Press Institute, including eight journalists in Afghanistan.

Before Lindor's death on Dec. 3, the most publicized killing of a journalist in Haiti took place April 3, 2000, when gunmen murdered popular radio commentator Jean Dominique, along with security guard Jean-Claude Louissaint in the courtyard of Dominique's Radio Haiti Inter.

Nearly two years later, no one has been charged, and on Friday the term of the investigative Judge Claudy Gassant expired, leaving in question the investigation's fate.

Journalists and international observers say the Haitian government's weak response to the Dominique and Lindor cases fuels a feeling of impunity among ``vigilante'' groups loyal to the president who believe they can threaten, harass and attack journalists at will.

``It's time the administration gets tough. The situation is becoming more and more unbearable,'' said Régis Bourgeat of Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based advocacy group pushing the Haitian government to bring the accused to justice in both cases.

`STOP ATTACKING'

``Openly the government says it asks for peace,'' Bourgeat says, referring to Aristide's recent Haitian Independence Day speech. ``But we don't want only words. We want President Aristide to say to supporters to stop attacking the press, and we want his police to investigate the threats made against the journalists.''

These sentiments were recently expressed in a letter to Aristide from Reporters Without Borders' Secretary General Robert Ménard.

In it, Ménard, who plans to travel to Haiti next week to address the situation, says Aristide's ``absence of measures to protect threatened newsrooms and public radio's participation in the intimidation campaign'' negates the commitment he made on Dec. 17 to see to it that freedom of the press is respected.

According to Bourgeat and the Haitian Press Federation, a Haiti-based journalists group, an estimated 40 journalists have been threatened or assaulted by government supporters who accuse them of being too critical of the government or being mouthpieces for the opposition Convergence alliance. Both groups have been assisting the journalists who have fled, and say the attacks have worsened since Lindor's death.

Luc Especa, a spokesman for President Aristide, said while some journalists were threatened, there was ``exaggeration in the kind of harassment some journalists said they were subjected to in the aftermath of the failed coup attack.''

Still, he said, the president wants to improve relations and plans to meet with members of both the Haitian and foreign press this week, where he'll reaffirm his commitment to freedom of the press.

``The president has strongly condemned any threat against them and called on all people to refrain from harassing journalists and let them do their work in a climate of complete freedom,'' Especa said.

UNSAFE PLACE

But it will take more than words, the journalists here say, to convince them that it is safe to return to Haiti and resume their life's work -- which lately has included reporting news that doesn't always show the government in a positive light.

``They don't want journalists to exercise their rights,'' says Josette Gladys, 33, a reporter for a magazine in Cabaret, a town outside of Port-au-Prince, and one of the few print journalists who allegedly has been attacked. Gladys is also now living in Palm Beach County.

Franceline Léonard, a correspondent for Radio Metropole in Les Cayes, about 94 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, says it will be difficult for her to return.

Léonard's troubles began on Nov. 17 while on assignment. Covering a meeting of Lavalas supporters, she was allegedly struck by a Lavalas supporter, who also destroyed her recording equipment.

Léonard filed a complaint, and the alleged attacker was arrested. He was later released and a judge dismissed the case, saying she had provoked the situation through her unflattering reports about the Lavalas party, Léonard says.

Léonard, whose case has been documented by Reporters Without Borders, had been in hiding in Haiti before arriving in Miami three days before Christmas. At 1 a.m. Dec. 18, she says, popular organization members came to her house looking for her. She wasn't there. That's when she decided it was time to leave.

``Yesterday I called home and they are still receiving threats,'' says a tearful Léonard, whose husband and young children remain in Haiti. ``They say if they don't find me, they will take my family.''

Judith Trunzo, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, says the office is aware of the plight of Haitian journalists and has received dozens of calls for help including requests for political asylum.

However, there is very little the embassy can do, she says, noting it's a ``delicate balancing act.'' For instance, unlike other embassies in Haiti, the U.S. Embassy does not house people seeking protection.

TEMPORARY VISAS

``They come here and expect us to help. We can't give asylum in a country where we are here by lateral accord,'' she said. ``We are trying to meet both American law and conduct a humanitarian act.''

The law, she says, allows for temporary visas, which have been issued to some of the journalists, including Yves Alexis, the Vision 2000 reporter who arrived here with his fiancé. The visas, Trunzo says, are given with the understanding that the individuals will return once things cool down.

But given the current state of affairs in Haiti -- failed coup attempt, attacks on journalists, international aid blockade, ongoing disagreements between Lavalas and the opposition and infighting among Lavalas members -- it's hard to tell if there will ever be such a day, the journalists say.

NO GUARANTEES

``They are people without names, without addresses,'' Alexis said of his attackers, while noting this was not the first time he or the station had received threats. ``When things happen on the street we cannot identify ourselves as journalists. Once we identify ourselves, we put ourselves at risk for getting killed.''

With few relatives in South Florida, the journalists here have been depending on assistance from the Haitian Press Federation for food and lodging. As they figure out how to use Tri-Rail commuter trains and the area's fragmented public transit system, they sit and weigh their options.

They all say they intend to apply for political asylum -- a complex process that can take months or years.

``I'm a little afraid,'' said Duverné, who was a friend of Lindor. ``I don't know how long it will take to consider our request, and I don't want a situation where they will make us return to Haiti. Our security is not guaranteed,'' he said. ``There are elements that will attack us anyhow.''