PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 8 (NNN-TELESUR) — Radio Ecoute announced that journalists Wilguens Louissaint and Amady John Wesley were murdered by the “Ti Makak” gang in a Port-au-Prince’s shantytown on Thursday.
While reporting on security issues at the Laboule 12 neighborhood, Radio Ecoute journalist Wesley was reportedly savagely shot and then burned by Ti Makak members.
“We denounce this heinous act because we cannot tolerate the long list of press workers murdered with total impunity, and without any successful investigation, since 1986,” the Security Working Group (GTS) coordinator Charles Prospere said, demanding that Prime Minister Ariel Henry effectively assume his responsibilities and prevent the security situation from continuing to deteriorate exponentially in the country.
“It is up to the Henry administration to inform the public as soon as possible about the measures it plans to take to curb insecurity throughout the country. We demand the opening of a serious investigation into these murders.”
Police released a statement confirming the deaths of Amady, 30, and Wilguens Louissaint, 22. Initial reports were that three journalists went to the scene and two were killed, while the third escaped.
“The Almighty Gangs struck again in Haiti at the start of 2022,” said Godson Lebrun, president of the Haitian Online Media Association. “I bow to the remains of these fellow journalists who were killed just because they wanted to INFORM. I demand an investigation and may justice be granted!”
In New York, a UN spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said, “This is just one more example of what journalists the world over face and sadly, we may expect the impunity with which they are murdered for just trying to tell the truth.”
Laboule 12 has become the scene of fighting among local criminal groups seeking to seize a secondary road that connects Port-au-Prince with the south of the country. The dispute over this route is ironclad, since other more powerful gangs control the national highway since June 2021.
The “capture” of public roads allows Haitian gangs to organize actions related to drug distribution, fuel confiscation, “toll” collection, kidnapping of persons, or other similar acts.
“Poorly equipped compared to criminal groups that have a war arsenal, the Haitian police have not organized large-scale operations against gangs since March 2021,” Radio Canada recalled. — NNN-TELESUR
