Haitian journalists are accused of having links to criminal gangs

The Haitian Journalists Association has officially requested a meeting with Inspector General Pierre René François of the Central Directorate of Judicial Police (DCPJ) following allegations that some journalists in Haiti have links to criminal gangs in the country.

In a letter to the DCPJ, the association praised the police's efforts to combat crime and admitted that criminal gangs “have plunged the country into an unprecedented security and humanitarian crisis.”

The letter highlighted concerns about recent arrests of press workers and the identification of others in a July 15, 2024 document attributed to the DCPJ's Criminal Affairs Bureau. Secretary General Jacques Desrosiers, who signed the letter, stressed that the association's mission is to preserve press freedom and ensure compliance with ethical standards in journalism.

Desrosiers clarified that the association's request for a meeting was not intended to interfere with the work of the DCPJ, but rather to “gather elements for an objective assessment of the situation of these press workers.”

The request comes as Haiti continues to grapple with a severe security crisis. The country is left without an elected head of state following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7, 2021. Since then, gang violence has displaced more than 578,000 Haitians from their homes, while nearly five million people, nearly half the population, face acute hunger, with 1.6 million at risk of starvation, according to the United Nations.

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In response to the escalating violence, police officers from Kenya were deployed as part of a United Nations-approved mission to combat the powerful armed gangs that are destabilizing the country.

Meanwhile, Edgard Leblanc Fils, chairman of the Haitian Transitional Presidential Council (TPC), has expressed hope that presidential and parliamentary elections could be held by the end of 2025.