Overview:
Senior Haitian journalist and Radio Kiskeya director Marvel Dandin mentioned he’s protected after armed males attacked his dwelling in Thomassin, Pétion-Ville, early March 12. Not less than seven gunmen fired photographs and tried to pressure their approach inside for practically 45 minutes earlier than being repelled by occupants and alerted neighbors. Dandin mentioned he doesn’t know the motive however believes the attackers knew precisely whose dwelling they had been concentrating on, and he referred to as for a stronger police presence in a neighborhood already affected by violent crime.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Famend veteran journalist Marvel Dandin mentioned he’s protected now after gunmen attacked his dwelling early Thursday morning, firing photographs and making an attempt to pressure their approach inside throughout a virtually hour-long assault.
Dandin, director normal of Radio Kiskeya, mentioned at the very least seven males armed with 9mm firearms tried to interrupt into his residence within the Soisson space of Thomassin on the early morning of March 12.
“I consider these people knew precisely the place they had been going. They knew whose dwelling they had been coming into and the place they would want to attempt to acquire entry,” Dandin mentioned on native Radio Métropole. “I can not rule out the likelihood that it was a focused assault, although it’s unclear whether or not the motive was kidnapping or one thing else.”
The attackers fired towards the home in the course of the assault, which lasted at the very least 45 minutes. They tried to pressure open a metallic door and breach partitions earlier than being repelled by resistance from inside the house and the speedy mobilization of neighbors, Dandin mentioned. Police later arrived on the scene, placing all the neighborhood on excessive alert as gunfire echoed by way of the world.
“I don’t know precisely what the target of this assault was, however the people had been doing every little thing they may to get into my dwelling,” Dandin, the host of the radio present “Di m, ma di w” on Radio Kiskeya, mentioned. “Regardless of the resistance they encountered from inside the home, they endured and had been decided to pressure open the door resulting in my condo within the constructing.”
The assault comes amid escalating insecurity in Haiti, the place armed teams have focused properties, companies, and public figures, together with journalists.
Dandin mentioned his neighborhood has seen a number of violent incidents in recent times, together with an tried kidnapping of a girl and the kidnapping of a kid, earlier than the incident he skilled. He requires elevated patrols by the Haitian Nationwide Police as he stays vigilant and is anxious about whether or not these armed bandits will go away him alone.
“As we speak it’s my flip, however I don’t know whether or not they’re carried out with me or if they’ll assault me once more,” Dandin mentioned. “Everyone seems to be now trapped given the state of affairs we live by way of within the nation.”
Journalists in Haiti have more and more confronted violence and intimidation. In March 2024, veteran journalist Lucien Jura was kidnapped from his dwelling in Pétion-Ville and later launched after a ransom cost. After his launch for ransom, the chief of the gang coalition, Viv Ansanm’, Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, revealed that he had requested one other gang chief, Vitelhomme, an harmless man working in Pétion-Ville, to hold out the kidnapping.
In October 2022, reporter Roberson Alphonse of Le Nouvelliste survived an assassination attempt in Delmas when gunmen shot him whereas he was driving to his radio program.
Dandin mentioned he’s nonetheless recovering from the assault and thanked neighbors and others who expressed assist.
“I gained’t faux that the state of affairs left me unscathed; it had a significant influence, and I wouldn’t want it on anybody,” says the renowned journalist from Kiskeya. “It’s humanly tough to endure, particularly since I’m neither a police officer nor a soldier, so some ordeals are merely not meant for me.”