#3113: From AHP: Jean Dominique Assassinated (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>

Assassination of Radio Haïti Inter's Director

Port-au-Prince, April 3, 2000, 9:00 AM
Agence Haïtienne de Presse

Translated by Max Blanchet

Armed bandits  today killed the General Director of
Radio Haïti Inter, Jean Léopold Dominique, aged 70.

The bandits first killed a guard named Jean-Claude then
crossed the main gate of the station and killed Dominique.
The victim, who died at the Hôpital de la Communauté
Haïtienne in Frères, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, had received
many bullets, one of them in the neck.

At this time we do not know who or what is behind
the murder of this well-known journalist who was
esteemed by Haitians for his unflagging and
consistent committment to democracy in Haiti.

His committment made  him the target of persecution,
notably in 1980, when he and his family were forced
into exile. Because of her father's committment to the
democratic struggle, Jean Dominique's daughter served
time in jail under the Duvalier regime.

The Director of Radio Haïti Inter never minced words in
denouncing the supporters of the Duvalier regime, among
them the "Macoutes" - the members of  the late dictator's
militia -  who were responsible for the murder of Dominique's
brother.

Jean Dominique was forced to go into exile once again during
the 3-year period that followed the coup d'état perpetrated by
Général Raoul Cédras during the night of September 29-30,
1991. His radio station was ransacked during the coup
that killed approximately 5,000 people.

Upon his return to Haiti in 1994, Jean Domonique, in spite
of his age, resumed his unflagging struggle for a noble
cause, the triumph of democracy, of justice over impunity
in Haiti.

He was constantly working to train the journalists assigned
to the news department of Radio Haïti Inter. In his opinion,
one cannot succeed in the mission of providing information
in an under-developed country, torn by divisions and hatred,
without thorough training focused on the real conditions
prevailing in one's milieu as they impact the life of the
marginalised segments of society.

"Jean Dominique, our living memory, always wanted to
investigate all issues thoroughly and would not be
silenced by the incomprehension and barbarism of
the leaders of the former regime," according to a
friend of Dominique who stated that the turn of events
in the general condition of the country is discouraging.