‘The city is a jail’: Haitian journalists get word out about gang violence

Correspondents in Port-au-Prince face danger as they play a vital role in chronicling city’s state of siege

Each day, Makenson Rémy wakes in the hush of the night to tell the story of his shattered home town, Port-au-Prince. Each day, he fears he might die. “I am very worried for the city. I am worried for my family. I am worried for myself too, because at any moment I could go out and never come back,” said the Haitian journalist who is responsible for the crack-of-dawn radio broadcasts that help the capital’s jittery residents stay alive.

Rémy uses a motorbike to move around the city, which a gang rebellion six weeks ago has almost entirely cut off from the outside world, gathering information on where is and isn’t safe to tread. As he slaloms through barricaded streets under the cover of darkness, he has witnessed spine-chilling scenes.