Haiti: SOS Journalistes Warns of Attempt to Silence the Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE.— SOS Journalistes Haiti is sounding the alarm over what it describes as a worrying slide by the transitional government towards a dictatorship at the end of its term. In a statement released on December 23, 2025, the organization condemns a decree recently adopted by the de facto government, which it deems repressive and contrary to the fundamental principles of press and expression freedom.

Presented by the authorities as measures to regulate and protect the media sector, these provisions are perceived by SOS Journalistes as instruments of political repression. Its Secretary General, Joseph Guyler C. Delva, sees in them a resurgence of practices inherited from the darkest periods of Haitian political history, explicitly evoking the methods of past authoritarian regimes.

The organization points a finger at the role of the Transitional Presidential Council (CPT), accused of behaving like a de facto Parliament without democratic legitimacy. According to SOS Journalistes, far from serving the general interest, the CPT and the government of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé are now acting without regard for law, multiplying coercive decisions against the media.

Among the most emblematic cases is the arbitrary eight-month suspension of a political debate program on Radio Mega, decided by the National Telecommunications Council (CONATEL). A sanction deemed disproportionate and symptomatic of a climate of increasing intimidation towards journalists and critical press outlets.

SOS Journalistes Haiti is also concerned about the trivialization of prosecutions for insult, defamation, cyberharassment, and other offenses, which, according to the organization, serve as a pretext for increased restriction of journalistic work. The fines and sanctions planned by the authorities would thus be part of a systematic obstruction of the freedom to inform.

Despite this tense context, the organization remains convinced that this attempt to muzzle the press is doomed to fail. It calls for an inclusive dialogue involving all actors in the media sector, particularly press owners and online media, to rethink any reform of the legal framework.

In parallel, SOS Journalistes Haiti and the organization Journalists Against Corruption for Human Rights and Democracy (JCDH) announce their intention to strengthen continuous training programs, particularly in ethics, to promote a responsible and professional exercise of press freedom in Haiti.

In a country already weakened by insecurity and institutional crisis, this confrontation between transitional authorities and media defense organizations highlights a central question: that of the place of freedom of expression in the ongoing political process.

Jean Mapou/ Le Relief