Violence in Haiti claims the lives of two sports journalists in less than a week

Haiti. – The growing security crisis affecting Haiti once again hit the journalistic sector with the violent deaths of two sports communicators in separate incidents in recent days, increasing concern about the vulnerability of the press in that Caribbean nation. The journalist Jean Brunet Bontemps died last Friday in Port-au-Prince after being shot several times while in the gallery of his residence, located near the Sylvio Cator Stadium. According to local reports, the communicator was taken to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries. Although the circumstances of the event have not yet been clarified by the authorities, some Haitian media indicate that Bontemps would have been caught in the middle of an exchange of gunfire between agents of the Haitian National Police and armed groups operating in the area. The death of the reporter has generated consternation in the Haitian sports and journalistic field. The general secretary of the Haitian Sports Press Association, Kenson Désir, described the event as “a huge loss for the Haitian sports press” and called for a thorough investigation. In a separate incident, photojournalist Jean-Marc Stevenson Ysemai was found dead this Monday in the town of Ravine du Sud, in the city of Les Cayes, two days after being reported missing. According to preliminary information, the communicator’s body had a head wound. So far, neither the authorities nor the Haitian police have offered details about the circumstances of the crime.

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Deaths occur in a particularly delicate context for the Haitian press, marked by kidnappings, threats, and attacks against media outlets. Organizations defending freedom of expression have denounced that the country has become one of the most dangerous countries on the continent to practice journalism. Just last March, journalists Osnel Esperance and Junior Célestin were kidnapped in downtown Port-au-Prince by members of the criminal coalition Viv Ansanm, and their whereabouts remain unknown to this day. Since 2018, more than twenty journalists have been killed or reported missing in Haiti, while dozens have left the country due to the deterioration of security and the lack of guarantees to practice the profession.