Second Haiti Radio Host Gunned Down

Francois Latour

A popular radio host was kidnapped and killed in Port-au-Prince, the second radio personality gunned down in Haiti in a week, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Francois Latour, host of a daily advertising programme on Caraïbes FM and presenter on Radio Métropole, was found dead with a bullet to the stomach on 23 May, a day after being kidnapped by unidentified gunmen, says RSF. His abductors had demanded US$100,000 for Latour, but hours later, his body was found dumped on the side of a street.

Latour's death came a week after Alix Joseph, a radio journalist and host of a cultural show, was shot to death, execution style, in the northern city of Gonaïves.

According to press reports, politically motivated violence has eased since President René Préval took office last May, but poverty, joblessness and the drug trade continue to fuel widespread crime in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.