HAITI: The press WILL NOT SHUT-UP!

Translation By Marie-France Dessalines



Le Nouvelliste Haiti- Between President Joseph Michel Martelly and the press there is no love story, to say the least. The injunction to "silence" done against journalists, holding them responsible for the negative image of Haiti creates a stir. Outraged, the press workers refuse to be silenced, as they feel the president wants to impose silence.

Haiti: "Shut up!?" Oh no!, Journalists argue, outraged and concerned by the injunction of President Joseph Michel Martelly which, simplistically, has attributed to the press the bad image of the country abroad. "The words of the head of state is detrimental to the freedom of the press," said Ferm, the secretary general of the AJH, Jacques Desrosiers, meticulous fingering such attitude since the election until accession of the former singer to presidency. "The AJH, said Jacques Desrosiers, calls on journalists not to be intimidated in their professional practice as they are responsible to inform the public." "Freedom of the press is not a gift but an achievement gained at the cost of great struggles and great sacrifices," says the president Jacques Desrosiers.

For Dany Valet, CEO of Le Matin, columnist and host of program at "Vision 2000" the statement of Martelly is fairly typical of the presidents and regimes whose result is thin to when responding to population in need and impatient. "The press has always been the ideal scapegoat in these cases. Unfortunately, on this record, Martelly is much more on the side of continuity and rupture. " Dany Valet is a political analysis, for which the indices tend to multiply and confirm the" nature somewhat intolerant of the team in power. "

"The press can not be silent, because it provides a forum for people's demands," said Gary Pierre-Paul Charles, director of Scoop Radio FM and host of the show "Haiti debate." "The press wants change and change in the way of life of the population it supports. These are the presidents who have not produced results, it is not for the journalists, "says Gary Pierre-Paul Charles.

Alert, Marie Raphaëlle Pierre, Managing Editor of Radio Ibo, believes that the corporation should not take lightly the statements of the president. As Jacques Desrosiers, she noted that the Head of State is not his first attempt in his attacks against the press. "We must not be intimidated, we must continue to broadcast in a professional and responsible way, information to the public," said Marie Raphaëlle Pierre, host of the show "Point du Jour"

"We see a bad state of mind of the President of the Republic vis-à-vis the media and how journalists do their work. Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution, in its Article 28. Every Haitian can speak on any matter the way he chooses, "said Herold Jean-François, Senior journalist, general manager of Radio Ibo." Martelly President, says he, has taken an oath to the Constitution, he cannot perjure by ignoring the law he has sworn to defend. The press mission is to educate the public, to report and emphasize the obstacles and anomalies. "

"Tell the realities is the prerogative of the press. Inquire into matters which can not be a propaganda. The press did not invent the facts of the Haitian reality, the role of government is to transform these realities for the benefit of citizens further the press have other topics of conversation and is reporting, "says Herold Jean-François. Herold Jean-François noted that Haiti is part of the global village. "If the Haitian press would be unable to adequately inform the Haitian people and the world on local burdens and our blockages, the foreign press would undertake to do it for us," he insists.

"The Haitian press continues to exercise its prerogatives jealously, informing the country and it is neither the legal means nor the armed forces available to the President of the Republic that will weaken the determination of the press to play its full role. The press is the best ally of the leaders, it is not trying to act as censor that Mr. Martelly will manage to neutralize or obtain support. "says Herold Jean-François, straight.

"President Martelly embarks on a dynamic of confrontation -non-productive- with the press," believes a journalist wishing to remain anonymous. "We can not exclude the likelihood of political maneuver to distract public opinion from the real problems of the moment . I am hopeful that the president understands the need to mark a halt, regarding the attacks against free press, " he wishes, recognizing that the President of the Republic Joseph Michel Martelly showed awkwardness in attributing responsibility for the bad image outside the country to media sector only.

"It's simplistic caricature. This further illustrates the ignorance of the causes of underdevelopment of the country in which poverty is indeed the fact of NGOs and other international organizations, " he analyses, in the hope that it is not too late to stop these attitudes of sterile confrontation whose consequences are always regrettable.

"The president should be the first to know that Haitians will no longer accept babouket," he concludes on a note of irony far from hiding his concerns.

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  1. A 26 ans, Marc-Arthur Chatelier est détenteur d'un diplôme en Science informatique de la Inuqua. Son rêve, faire entendre son nom parmi les grands informaticiens du monde. Un rêve, qu'il emporte avec lui ce 16 avril ou un individu lui ote la vie.

    Dans la soirée du 16 avril, sur la route de Frères, à l'impasse Corail, Marc-Arthur se dirige vers une marchande de fritures pour se procurer un pâté. Armé de ses 25 gourdes, il ne savait pas que son heure était arrivée, mais son présumé assassin, Pantal Fritz Pierrot, un employé de la Sun Auto, selon ses proches, en avait décidé autrement. Il n'a pas eu le temps de payer son dû. Il meurt d'une balle au front avec son argent en main.

    Il laisse inconsolables, sa mère, Aséfie Pamphil, son père, Maxo Chatelier et son petit frère d'une dizaine d'années, Josué Chatelier, pour qui il était une idole.

    Le lendemain du meurtre, le père de la victime reçoit du tireur, toujours selon ses proches, comme simple explication pour l’assassinat de son fils, ''C'est un accident, je l'ai tué par erreur, je visais quelqu'un d'autre''.

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