[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
#3178: 15,000 mourn slain Haitian journalist (fwd)
From:nozier@tradewind.net
WIRE:04/08/2000 13:42:00 ET
15,000 mourn slain Haitian
journalist
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Some 15,000 mourners gathered at Haiti's
main soccer stadium Saturday for the funeral of slain journalist Jean
Dominique, who was remembered as a leading advocate for democracy and
grass-roots struggles. Dominique, 69, owner of Radio HaitiInter and a
special adviser to President Rene Preval,was shot by two gunmen as he
arrived at his radio station Monday for his morning newscast. Security
guard Jean-Claude Louissaint, also killed in the attack, was also
honored at the funeral. Former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who cut
short a trip to the United States to attend the funeral, and President
Rene Preval attended the service along with a host of government
ministers. Preval decorated Dominique's lapel with a gold medal of
honor but did not make any statements. During dictatorship he
(Dominique) fought to change the system. If he died in the fight, it is
proof that the system has not changed," said Radio Haiti Inter
journalist Sony Esteus, speaking at the funeral. Dominique, one of
Haiti's most famous journalists, was a long-time democracy advocate
whose fiery political commentaries angered Haiti's business elite,
drug barons and supporters of the exiled former dictator, Jean-Claude
Duvalier. His assassination further hampered Haiti's attempts to
hold its first national elections in three years as it struggles to
form a stable democracy after decades of dictatorship. Election
officials had set Sunday as election day but Preval refused to approve
the date and has not set another one.
Dominique's body, with bullet wounds in the temple,and that of
Louissaint lay in open coffins draped with the Haitian flag under a
canopy in the middle of the grassy field of the Sylvio Cator
Stadium. A small group of hecklers shouting "Aristide or Death," at
one point crowded around the open caskets. One heckler shouted "Tuye
(kill) K-Plim!" the nickname of opposition politician Evans Paul,
a former Port-au-Prince mayor and spokesman for the Espace de
Concertation coalition party. After the funeral, demonstrators shouting
pro-Aristide slogans and threats against Paul marched from the stadium
to the headquarters of Espace de Concertation and set it on fire.
Police stood by and watched but did not interfere, journalists on the
scene said."I am very concerned for the safety of our party
members,"Paul said in an interview on local Radio Metropole as fire
ravaged the building. "It's clear that they are using his (Dominique's)
death to attack us. This is a tragic event in the history of Haiti."
Friday, a march from Radio Haiti Inter to the national palace to demand
justice in Dominique's killing was marred by counter-demonstrators
chanting slogans against the Espace de Concertation and making threats
against Paul, an outspoken critic of Aristide's Lavalas Family party.
The Espace de Concertation and Aristide's Lavalas Family have clashed
violently in recent weeks as Haiti prepared to hold the legislative and
municipal elections. The vote has been postponed three times.
Preval opponents say the delays are part of a strategy to hold general
elections at the end of the year when Aristide is expected to run for
and win the presidency,which would help his partisans gain control of
parliament on his coat tails.Preval dissolved parliament 15 months ago
to end a political impasse.The Espace de Concertation negotiated a
settlement with Preval shortly after to pave the way for holding
elections.On Monday, Paul called for his party's cabinet ministers to
resign as friction grew between his party and the Lavalas Family, which
controls the government. On Thursday, the environment minister and the
labor secretary of state, both from the Espace de Concertation,
announced their resignations.