a1548: Re: a1534: Re: Association of Haitian Journalists (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

In a message dated 4/1/2002 Kevin Pina wrote:
<< While culling through my research in regards to the question of Ira
 Lowenthal, I ran across this information on the Association of Haitian
 Journalists which is currently represented by Guyler C. Delva. Does anyone
 have any specific information regarding more recent international and/or
 USAID funding for this organization? >>
and went on to paste information about USAID funding for the AJH in the early
1990s.

This is a rather heavy-handed attempt to tar the current AJH, headed indeed
by Guyler Delva, with a great big 'enemy of the people' brush.

Maybe Kevin Pina knows or maybe he does not know, but the AJH that was
dominated by 'Duvalierists' and that supported the pro-coup forces in the
early 1990s, was disbanded in or around 1994, and a totally new AJH was only
formally reconstituted last year (2001).

As far as I know the name is about the only thing that they have in common.

It is true that the current AJH has criticised the government for the lack of
protection it has afforded to journalists, and has criticised some government
supporters for the way that they have treated journalists (i.e threatened
them with extreme violence) but this is some way from being the
counter-revolutionary organisation that Kevin Pina would have us believe in.

I ask you  - what else is a journalists' association supposed to do apart
from attempt to protect the interests and safety of its members ?

I think in any case that Kevin Pina may be barking up the wrong tree because
I seem to remember that at the time when new journalists' group started to
spring up (in the year 2000) USIS' Dan Whitman rather preferred the rival
Haitian Journalists' Federation. I believe Haiti Progres covered these spats.

Charles Arthur