Coup government threatens Reuters
Haiti correspondent

The office of the Prime Minister accuses the Reuters correspondent
of working for a political clique

Port-au-Prince, January 24, 2005 (AHP)- Interim Prime Minister Gérard Latortue dismissed reports Monday that his government is prepared to send a delegate to South Africa to meet with President Aristide in order to find a way to bring peace back to Haiti.

In a news release dated January 23, 2005, the press office of the Prime Minister indicated that the Reuters news dispatch reporting this information is a shameful machination by by the Reuters correspondent in Haiti, Guyler C. Delva, which is based, it said, on a hypothetical interview that he is supposed to have given to Radio Tropic FM.

According to the news release, this supposed interview exists only in the mind of Mr. Delva, who does not miss any opportunity, the news release asserted, to provide disinformation about Haiti, and who basically preaches to his own political clique.

The office of the Prime Minister also accused Mr. Delva of having failed to keep a firm promise he had made at the conclusion of a meeting held on January 22 at his residence to retract the dispatch in question. Instead, the news release states, Mr. Delva wrote a new article that did not in any way constitute a genuine retraction of the news that was initially reported.

Mr. Latortue accused Guy Delva of failing to respect journalistic standards as well as ethical considerations governing the profession of journalism.

Mr. Latortue's press office stated that the law punishes the type of actions it accuses the Reuters correspondent of having committed.

The report regarding a possible decision by Mr. Latortue to send an emissary to South Africa to meet with President Aristide with a view to finding a way to return peace to Haiti was also broadcast by RFI (Radio France International).

AHP January 24, 2005 3:30 PM