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Amady John Wesley (left) and Wilguens Louissaint
Photo: REUTERS
In Haiti, two journalists were killed by a criminal gang while researching a report.
Wilguens Louissaint and Amady John Wesley died in a shootout, as Wesley's employer, Radio Ecoute FM, announced on Thursday.
A third journalist who had accompanied her on her report on "the security climate in the area" was able to flee.
"We condemn this criminal and barbaric act in the strongest possible way," said the general manager of Radio Ecoute FM, Francky Attis, when asked by the AFP news agency.
It is a "serious attack" on the rights of journalists to "freely practice their profession in the country".
Life-threatening work
The radio station is based in Montreal, Canada, where many Haitian people live.
According to the broadcaster, the journalists were traveling in an area on the outskirts of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince where several rival gangs are fighting.
Journalists' work is life-threatening in Haiti.
In June 2021, the journalist Diego Charles was shot dead in the middle of the night along with an opposition politician and 13 other people.
The perpetrators are still not identified.
In March 2018, the photojournalist Vladjimir Legagneur never returned from a report from a poor district of the capital.
The murder of the then best-known Haitian journalist Jean Dominique in April 2000 has not yet been resolved.
The Caribbean country has been rocked by violent gang crime for years, which has intensified in recent months.
The police seem powerless against the heavily armed gangs.
Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse six months ago, the country has also been in a political crisis.
cbu / AFP