16588: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-Reporter's expulsion protested; probe urged in disappear (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Posted on Fri, Aug. 29, 2003

Reporter's expulsion protested; probe urged in disappearance

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- (AP) -- Journalists on Thursday protested the expulsion of
a radio reporter from a provincial church where President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide was visiting, and called for answers on his disappearance this
week.

Peterson Milord, who worked for independent Radio Vision 2000 and local
station Passion, had been covering Aristide's visit Saturday to the St. Rose
of Lima Catholic Church in the peninsular town of Leogane.

>From the pulpit, the Rev. Fritz Sauvagere said Milord had been spreading
lies about him and the government, and ordered he be expelled from the
church.

''All of the problems this country has are due to the press,'' said
Sauvagere, a fervent Aristide supporter.

Milord had broadcast reports citing local complaints of Sauvagere's high
prices for burials and other ceremonies and accusing him of misappropriating
church funds.

Journalists gathered Thursday outside the church to demand an apology from
Sauvagere and to express concern for Milord's whereabouts, after he
disappeared Wednesday.

''We fear for his life,'' Radio Passion Director Marius Emmanuel said,
adding that shots had been fired in front of his station Tuesday night.

Graffiti also appeared Thursday on walls in Leogane reading, ``Down With the
Press.''

''We would rather die than put up with this disappearance,'' said Guy Delva,
president of the Association of Haitian Journalists.

The journalists were joined in criticizing Saturday's expulsion by members
of Aristide's own political party and by the Roman Catholic Church of Haiti.

''I apologize to the press on Sauvagere's behalf, because I belong to the
same political family,'' said Sen. Dany Toussaint, of Aristide's Lavalas
Family Party.

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