Trapped Between Bullets and Silence: Journalists Targeted Amid Haiti’s Gang Chaos

As Haiti plunges deeper into chaos, journalists have become deliberate targets in the country’s spiraling gang violence. On November 11, 2024, reporter Wandy Charles narrowly escaped a shooting outside his home in a Port-au-Prince neighborhood that was taken over by armed gangs just hours later. Charles, who was with his family at the time, described the attack as calculated intimidation. Days earlier, on November 5, another journalist, Lookens Jean-Baptiste of Radio Tropic FM, had his home in Fort National torched by suspected gang members. The attackers allegedly justified the assault by accusing him of supporting police through his reporting.

These incidents are part of a broader surge in violence that has devastated Haiti following the dismissal of Prime Minister Garry Conille. According to UN figures, more than 5,350 people were killed by gangs in 2024, and over 2,000 others were injured. Port-au-Prince, where gangs now control an estimated 80% of the territory, has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the attacks, expressing deep concern for the safety of the press in Haiti. Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, called for immediate investigations and enhanced protection for reporters. Journalists like Charles and Jean-Baptiste continue to work under constant threat—not only of death but also of censorship, displacement, and loss of livelihood. Many have fled their homes or relocated their families to escape the escalating threats.

Haiti’s ranking at the top of CPJ’s 2024 Global Impunity Index underscores the problem: violence against journalists is rampant and rarely punished. Armed groups operate freely, and government protection is virtually nonexistent. Even media outlets are not spared—some have been raided, burned, or forced to shut down.

As the country teeters on the edge of a humanitarian and security collapse, Haitian journalists are left to choose between exile, silence, or death. The international community and local authorities are under growing pressure to restore protections for the press, without which independent journalism in Haiti risks total erasure.