Kevin Pina is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

journalist, filmmaker and educator. Pina also serves as a Country Expert on

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

for the Varieties of Democracy project sponsored by the University of Notre Dame Center for Research Computing, the University of Gothenburg Department of Political Science, and the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies.

Human rights in Haiti

Pina is known for his reporting focusing on human rights abuses in Haiti following the ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide on February 29, 2004 and the installation of the interim government of

Gerard Latortue Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...

and

Boniface Alexandre Boniface Alexandre (born 31 July 1936) is a Haitian politician. Alexandre served as the provisional president of Haiti following the 2004 Haitian coup d'état that removed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office. He served until May 2006 ...

in March 2004. Pina reported on events in Haiti between 2003 and 2006 as a Special

Correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for the radio program, '' Flashpoints'', heard on

KPFA KPFA (94.1 FM) is an American listener-funded talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station sign ...

– the flagship station of

Pacifica Radio Pacifica may refer to: Art * ''Pacifica'' (statue), a 1938 statue by Ralph Stackpole for the Golden Gate International Exposition Places * Pacifica, California, a city in the United States ** Pacifica Pier, a fishing pier * Pacifica, a conceiv ...

based in Berkeley, California. Kevin Pina began reporting from Haiti in 1991 for the

News in the United States. He reported on human rights violations committed by the Haitian military in the poor neighborhood of Cité Soleil following the coup of September 30, 1991 that was led by

Raoul Cédras Joseph Raoul Cédras (born July 9, 1949) is a Haitian former military officer who was the ''de facto'' ruler of Haiti from 1991 to 1994. Background A mulatto, Cédras was educated in the United States and was a member of the U.S.-trained ''Leop ...

and

Michel François Joseph-Michel François was a colonel in the Haitian army. As Haiti Chief of National Police he participated in the 1991 Haitian coup d'état, which overthrew Haiti's elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Former Haitian President candidate ...

. In late July 1993, he was declared persona non-grata and deported by General Raoul Cedras following a drive-by shooting during an interview with Senator Thomas Eddy Dupiton in Canape Verte. Pina's first Haiti documentary, '' Haiti: Harvest of Hope'', focused on the formation of Aristide's Lavalas political movement, the military coup of 1991 and Aristide's eventual return from exile in October 1994. The

Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; ht, kreyòl ayisyen, links=no, ; french: créole haïtien, links=no, ), commonly referred to as simply ''Creole'', or ''Kreyòl'' in the Creole language, is a French-based creole language spoken by 10–12million people wor ...

version of ''Haiti: Harvest of Hope'' was narrated by Haitian poet Jean-Claude Martineau and premiered in Haiti on Haitian Mother's Day in May 1995. The English version is narrated by the actor

Roscoe Lee Brown Roscoe Lee Browne (May 2, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American actor and director. He resisted playing stereotypically black roles, instead performing in several productions with New York City's Shakespeare Festival Theater, Leland Hayward's ...

and was released for distribution in the U.S. in 1997. In early January 1999, Pina moved to Port-au-Prince where he lived and worked for the next seven years. He was the first journalist to write that paramilitary forces of the former Haitian military and the

Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haïti The Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH) (french: Front pour l'Avancement et le Progrès Haitien) was a far-right paramilitary group organized in mid-1993. Its goal was to undermine support for the popular Catholicism, Catholic p ...

(FRAPH), operating in the neighboring Dominican Republic, were being used as part of a larger strategy to oust the government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in April 2003. Between 2001 and 2003 Pina was hired as an independent consultant for Télévision Nationale d'Haïti (TNH), a government owned station, to teach camera and digital editing. Pina was contracted concurrently for a similar position with the privately owned station Tele-Haiti in 2003, and later became the Station Manager for Haiti's largest privately owned television station TeleMax in early 2004. According to

Yves Engler Yves Engler (born 1979) is a Canadian Montreal-based writer and political activist. In addition to twelve published books, Engler's writings have appeared in alternative press and in mainstream publications such as ''The Globe and Mail'', ''Toro ...

and

Anthony Fenton Anthony Fenton is a Canadian independent print and radio journalist and writer. He has been a regular contributor to '' The Dominion'' and Z Communications, and is currently a doctoral student at York University. Education Fenton earned a BA in p ...

in their book ''Haiti: Waging War on the Poor Majority'', Pina was beaten by an off-duty SWAT officer of the Haitian National Police on June 4, 2005. In subsequent interviews, Pina said he believed this was retribution for his actions during a demonstration on May 18, 2005 where he and several Haitian journalists blocked police from firing on unarmed protesters. A Brazilian military commander, working for the United Nations mission in Haiti known as

MINUSTAH ) , leader_title = Head , leader_name = Sandra Honoré (Special Representative of the Secretary-General) , status = Replaced by MINUJUSTH , formation = 1 June 2004 , websiteUN Peacekeeping: MINUSTAH

, gave orders to have Pina's picture taken during the demonstration while threatening, "You are always making trouble for us. I have taken your picture and I am going to give it to the Haitian police. They will get you." Pina was arrested in Haiti on September 9, 2005 and held in jail for three days after attempting to videotape a search by Judge Jean Pérs Paul in the church of prisoner of conscience Father

Gérard Jean-Juste Gérard Jean-Juste (February 7, 1946 – May 27, 2009) was a Roman Catholic priest and rector of Saint Claire's church for the poor in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He was also a liberation theologian and a supporter of the Fanmi Lavalas political party ...

. Pina later said he had gone to St. Claire's parish because he had received information that the judge intended to plant weapons in Jean-Juste's rectory to justify holding the priest in prison. After Haiti: Harvest of Hope, Pina released a second video entitled ''Haiti: The UNtold Story''. The film chronicles human rights abuses by the Haitian police and a military assault on July 6, 2005 by United Nations forces where residents accuse them of massacring civilians in the impoverished neighborhood of

Cité Soleil Cité Soleil ( ht, Site Solèy; English: ) is an extremely impoverished and densely populated commune located in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area in Haiti. Cité Soleil originally developed as a shanty town and grew to an estimated 200,000 t ...

. ''Haiti: The UNtold Story'' was an earlier version of Pina's latest documentary, ''Haiti: We must kill the Bandits'',Haiti: We must kill the bandits
Haitiinformationproject.net. Retrieved on 2012-01-28. subsequently re-edited for a final release in 2009 at the

Bahamas International Film Festival The Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) is a non-profit film festival held in the Bahamas. Open to both locals and international visitors, the festival was founded by Leslie Vanderpool in 2004. BIFF also hosts a youth film workshop that a ...

. Although ''Haiti: We must kill the Bandits'' recycles rare footage from Pina's earlier documentary ''Haiti: Harvest of Hope'' for context, most of the video is original footage shot between 2004-2006.

Body of works

Pina's film credits and videography include ''El Salvador: In the Name of Democracy'' (1985), ''Berkeley in the Sixties'' (1990), ''Amazonia: Voices from the Rainforest'' (1990), '' Haiti: Harvest of Hope'' (1997), ''Haiti: The UNtold Story'' (2005) and ''HAITI: We Must Kill the Bandits'' (2007).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pina, Kevin American alternative journalists American documentary filmmakers American expatriates in Haiti American human rights activists American male journalists Human rights abuses in Haiti Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of Haiti

Human rights in Haiti

Body of works

See also

References