Attention News Editors:

Haiti - Finger pointed at US interposition force in the 2004 death of journalist Ricardo Ortega

    MONTREAL, May 13 /CNW Telbec/ - An official Haitian investigation has
officially blamed the foreign interposition force present in Haiti after the
ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on 29 February 2004 for the murder
of Ricardo Ortega of the privately-owned Spanish TV channel Antena 3.
    The conclusions of Haitian judge, Bernard Saint-Vil, were released by the
Spanish journalist's parents, José Luis Ortega and Charo Fernandez, after
their visit to Haiti, on 9 May 2008.
    Ortega was shot dead in Port-au-Prince on 7 March 2004, before the
arrival in the country of the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (Minustah) on
1st June 2004. The family also referred to an autopsy carried out in Spain
which showed traces of projectiles in his body from heavy weapons fire used by
the US marines.
    Reporters Without Borders joins with the family in asking for the
investigation to be continued at an international level.
    "The conclusions of the judge, Bernard Saint-Vil, invalidate the theory,
which has long been circulated, that the bullets which fatally wounded Ricardo
Ortega came from the supporters of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, during
demonstrations after he was ousted from power," the worldwide press freedom
organisation said.
    "Considering the events go back some time, the circumstances of the death
and the implication of a foreign military force, the continuation of the
investigation at an international level and in particular in the United
States, might be difficult. That is why we agree with the request of Ricardo
Ortega's parents for the Spanish government to mobilise the governments of
countries represented in the interim force at the time of the killing", it
added.
    Ortega had arrived in Haiti as special correspondent for Antena 3 on
28 February 2004, one day before the departure of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He
was fatally wounded during fighting between supporters and opponents of the
ousted president on 7 March, when he and his interpreter went to the aid of an
American colleague who had been wounded in crossfire. Ortega was hit in the
body as he left the patio of a building where he had taken refuge and was
crossing the road. He was pronounced dead soon after his arrival at the
Canapé-Vert hospital. His interpreter was also killed.
    The investigation at first focused on armed supporters of Jean-Bertrand
Aristide but in addition to the autopsy carried out in Spain, witness accounts
gathered by a journalist colleague on Antena 3, Jesus Martin, who was sent to
Haiti six months later, confirmed the thesis that the shooting had come from
US troops "without anything happening that could have been interpreted at the
time as a threat", the family said in a statement.
    The foreign contingent present in Haiti before the deployment of Minustah
was made up of US, Canadian, French and Chilean troops.

For further information: Katherine Borlongan, Secretary general,
Reporters Without Borders Canada, (514) 521-4111, rsfcanada@rsf.org