The climate for press freedom has improved markedly, especially in the capital city Port-au-Prince, since President Jean Bertrand Aristide left power on February 29 of this year and the arrival of the Multinational Interim Force. Nonetheless, extremely dangerous situations persist, particularly in other parts of the country, where irregular armed groups, among them former soldiers and former rebels, each maintain control over parts of the population.

In the first months of this year, journalists and the media lived times of sheer terror: Several radio stations were attacked and looted; some journalists were threatened; others had to flee; and a Spanish journalist was killed while covering a protest. The situation has calmed down considerably in the past six months, but the problems are ongoing in the central part of the country, due to the continued control of many areas there by irregular armed groups.

Journalist Ricardo Ortega of Spanish television station Antena 3 died on March 7, while covering an anti-Aristide protest in Port-au-Prince. Supporters of the former president have been blamed for his death. Nobody has yet been punished.

On April 16, Jeanty André Omilert, Mirealais correspondent of pro-Lavalas Radio Solidarité, was arrested without cause. The government released him at the request of the Haitian Journalists Association.

In May, FM Tropic correspondent Charles Edmón Prosper also was arrested, and accused of belonging to a small group of reporters critical of the rebels.

The rebels accused Elézer Melkio of Radio Visión 2000 of trying to get US troops to intervene in the region. After he was threatened repeatedly, he had to leave Mirebalais.

On March 13, Aristide opponents shot up the home of Elysée Sincére, correspondent of Radio Visión 2000 in Petit Goave, southeast of Port-au-Prince.

In the south, Lyonel Lazarre, Jacmel correspondent of Radio Solidarité and the Haitianne agency, was arrested and beaten by former soldiers in late March.

The murders of journalists Jean Dominique and Brignol Lindor remain unsolved. Dominique, who headed Radio Haiti Inter, was gunned down on the station’s patio in April, 2000 and died there, as did a security guard. In December 2001, Brignol Lindor was murdered. This past March brought the arrests of Harold Sévére, a former mayor of Port-au-Prince, and Ostide Pétion, accused of involvement in the murder of Dominique. Also arrested, on May 10, was Annete Auguste (Só Anne), who was in charge of Aristide’s community organizations.