AP Leads
About AP Leads
No one covers the globe like The Associated Press. Each week, AP breaks stories and digs deeper into ongoing events to produce an unmatched news report for our members and customers. Highlights are found via the Best of the Week and the Best of the States, which reward AP individuals or teams who do the most to enhance our competitive position in the media industry.
An internal committee reviews nominations by staff members for the two contests, selecting winners to receive company-wide recognition and a cash prize.
For questions or comments about this site, please contact us by email and we'll follow up as quickly as possible.
New York HQ
U.S. East
U.S. South
U.S. Central
U.S. West
U.S.-Mexico border
clear Update
Children stand in the courtyard of the Maison La Providence de Dieu orphanage it Ganthier, Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, Oct. 17, 2021, where a gang abducted 17 missionaries — 12 adults and five children — of U.S.-based Christian Aid Ministries. The 400 Mawozo gang, notorious for brazen kidnappings and killings took the group of 16 U.S. citizens and one Canadian after a visit to the orphanage.
AP Photo / Joseph Odelyn
Best of the Week — Second Winner
AP team delivers sweeping all-formats coverage of missionaries' kidnapping in Haiti
Pierre Luxama, Dánica Coto, Matias Delacroix, Joseph Odelyn and Evens Sanon
Against a backdrop of instability in Haiti, AP leads with distinctive coverage after a gang-led abduction.
When a notorious gang kidnapped 17 U.S.-based missionaries in Haiti nearly two weeks ago, AP's team in the region sprang into action, drawing on their deep knowledge of the country's ongoing chaos and violence to file a steady stream of breaking news and distinctive enterprise across formats on the unfolding situation.
Stringers Joseph Odelyn and Pierre Luxama provided some of the first photos and video from the orphanage the missionaries had visited before disappearing. Meanwhile, Dánica Coto, AP's Caribbean correspondent in Puerto Rico, worked with local text stringer Evens Sanon and colleagues in the U.S. to rapidly file text stories for AP's international audience, explaining that such lawlessness has become commonplace in the country.
In the following days, the AP's coverage included live video of demonstrations calling for more security, aerial images of the route where the missionaries were abducted from Venezuela-based photographer Matías Delacroix and a video explainer on the ongoing instability in the country, which has been struggling with a spike in gang-related kidnappings.
The AP was also the first to source a video message from Wilson Joseph, leader of the 400 Mawozo gang behind the kidnapping, saying he would kill the missionaries if he didn't get the $1 million per-person ransom he had demanded earlier. The gang — whose name translates to 400 "inexperienced men" — was also blamed for abducting five priests and two nuns earlier this year.
International Route 8, where 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group were abducted by a violent gang, is empty of large trucks as a result of a transportation strike in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, Oct. 20, 2021, as workers protest the nation's lack of security.
AP Photo / Matias Delacroix
People demonstrate for the release of 17 kidnapped missionaries near the Haitian headquarters of Christian Aid Ministries in Titanyen, north of Port-au-Prince, Oct. 19, 2021.
Security forces patrol the streets of Croix-des-Bouquets, near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 19, 2021, during a general strike as Haitian citizens demanded that authorities address the nation's lack of security, days after 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group were abducted by a gang.
A police officer patrols the street of Croix-des-Bouquets, near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 19, 2021, during a general strike as Haitian citizens demanded that authorities address the nation's lack of security.
A sign stands outside Christian Aid Ministries in Titanyen, north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 19, 2021, days after a gang kidnapped 17 members of the U.S.-based missionary group.
Barbecue, the leader of the G9 and Family gang, shouts slogans with his gang members after giving a speech, as he leads a march against kidnapping through La Saline neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 22, 2021. The group said they were also protesting poverty and for justice in the slaying of President Jovenel Moise.
An aerial view of the Jalouise neighborhood at sunrise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 19, 2021.
A tire burns as vendors work in a market left empty due to a general strike in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 25, 2021. Citizens and workers' unions called for another general strike to demand the end of kidnappings, violence and insecurity in the streets.
A man and child collect plastic bottles in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 25, 2021, as citizens and workers' unions called for another general strike to demand the end of kidnappings, violence and insecurity in the streets.
A boy stands amid burning garbage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 25, 2021.
AP's coverage also gave insight into the harrowing experience of family members of kidnapping victims through an exclusive interview with a Haitian woman whose father was abducted in late September. "When they called, they would say very harsh, cruel (things): 'You don't want your husband anymore? We don't mind, we can kill him and you can pick him up from a pile of trash,'" said Doris Michel, who called on the U.S. government to act on Haiti's worsening situation.
For their tireless work in demonstrating AP's speed, global reach and depth across formats in covering one of Haiti's largest recent kidnappings, the Haiti/Caribbean team of Pierre Luxama, Dánica Coto, Matias Delacroix, Joseph Odelyn and Evens Sanon is AP's Best of the Week — Second Winner.
Visit AP.org to request a trial subscription to AP's video, photo and text services.
For breaking news, visit apnews.com
Link to story
https://apnews.com/hub/hai… https://aplink.news/k0s?ut… https://aplink.news/ehc?ut… https://aplink.news/6xx?ut… https://aplink.news/9wn?ut… https://aplink.news/fn1?ut… https://aplink.news/k5y?ut… https://aplink.video/wzl
Haiti, Americas
Dánica Coto @danicacoto
Matias Delacroix @matiasdelacroix
The Definitive Source
All contents © copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved.