Jean Dominique
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Jean Léopold Dominique (July 30, 1930-April 3, 2000) was a noted Haïtian journalist who spoke out against successive dictatorships. He was one of the first people in Haïti to broadcast in Kréyòl, the language spoken by most of the populace. Despite fleeing the country twice when his life was under threat, he continued to return to his native Haïti. He was assassinated on April 3, 2000, a crime for which no one has ever been prosecuted.
[edit] History
Dominique was born into the mulatto elite of Haïtian society. After completing his schooling, he trained as an agronomist in Paris, France. On his return, he began working with the poverty stricken peasantry. Using his skills, Dominique helped rural farmers to better manage their land and stay out of debt of wealthy landowners. Some landowners, in an effort to maintain control over the farmers, convinced local authorities to jail Dominique for six months. After his release he continued to witness the abuse of the peasantry. He became distressed at what he saw, and in time, emerged as one of the strongest critics of the regime of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. During the 1960s, he became interested in film and founded Haïti's first film club. Later, he made one of Haïti's first documentaries entitled, "But I Am Beautiful, Too".
In the late 1960s, Dominique joined Radio Haïti as a reporter, and followed this in 1971, by purchasing the station's lease. He also began broadcasting in Kréyòl. This was the first time that a Haïtian radio station had broadcast locally in the language spoken by most of the populace, as opposed to French, which was the language of the ruling elite.
Despite pressure from the regimes of both "Papa Doc" and Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, Dominique continued criticising what he perceived to be injustices. This resulted in Radio Haïti being shut down several times, and finally, in Dominique being forced into exile in the United States in 1980.
In 1986, Dominique returned to Haïti, after the fall of the Duvalier regime. He was greeted at the airport by 60,000 people. There was some suggestion that he may have run for President himself, but Dominique declined to do so. He then became involved in the ruling Lavalas party. However, when the military overthrew the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991, Dominique feared for his safety, and fled into exile again. He returned in 1994, after Aristide's return to power.
In the final years of his life, Dominique concentrated on issues of corruption and negligence. He criticised a pharmaceutical firm, Pharval Laboratories, for selling contaminated cough syrup that was responsible for the deaths of 60 children. Dominique also took on a former police chief Dany Toussaint (now a Haïtian Senator), whom he accused of having his rival for the position of Secretary of State for Public Security, Jean Lamy, assassinated. As a result of this, Toussaint's supporters surrounded and attacked the radio station building. The New York Haïtian radio station Radio Liberté had also reported that Dominique had received death threats via Toussaint's lawyers. This led Dominique to state "I know he has enough money to pay and arm henchmen," he said. "If he tries to move against me or the radio station and if I'm still alive, I'll close the station down and go into exile once again with my wife and children."
Dominique had also been strongly critical of United States policy towards Haïti, the Aristide government and, towards the end of his life, the role of Danny Toussaint within Aristide's political party Fanmi Lavalas Party (which had evolved out of the original Lavalas Party).
“I know that he [Dany Toussaint] has weapons. I know that he has the money to pay and arm his followers. Here, I have no other weapon than my journalist's pen. And [with it] my microphone and my unquenchable faith as a militant for true change. And let me be perfectly clear, I will not turn over to any freeloader in the world a monopoly over Lavalas, no matter who it is!”
On April 3, 2000, Dominique was shot four times in the chest as he arrived for work at Radio Haïti. The station's security guard was also killed in the attack. President René Préval ordered three days of official mourning, and 16,000 people attended his funeral at a sports stadium.
There have been numerous inconsistencies in the investigations into the murder, including the mysterious death of a suspect. Pharval Laboratories and Senator Toussaint came under suspicion as a result of the murder but Toussaint was the prime suspect. While the former somewhat cooperated with the inquiries, Toussaint claimed parliamentary immunity and refused to testify. The first investigating judge, Claudy Gassant, fled to the United States after suggesting that Toussaint be charged over the murder. Despite this, Gassant's superiors decided that no charges would be laid. Under increasing international pressure, the Arisitde government was able to arrest three alleged gunmen Ti Lou, Guimy and Markington. These three men all mysteriously escaped under the U.S. installed coup government of Gerald Latortue.
Though six more people were jailed in March, 2004 for involvement in the killing, the person who ordered it has never been found. Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders have both strongly criticised the Haïtian government for not doing more to solve the case. Since the assassination, several large public protests have called for more action to be taken. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and anti-Lavalas political parties within Haiti have been accused of exploiting the case for political purposes towards destabilizing Haiti's democratically elected governemnt which was overthrown in a U.S. backed military coup (February 2004).
In response to the failure of the Haitian government to properly investigate the case, RSF called for a government aid embargo which greatly contributed to a health crisis harming hundreds of thousands of people. New documentation shows that RSF during this time period was receiving grants from the U.S. Department of State. No evidence shows that Arisitde had any involvement in this murder. The interim government of Gerald Latortue made little progress in investigating the case either.
Months prior to the 2004 coup, Danny Toussaint joined the political opposition to the elected government, and ran for president in the 2006 presidential election. With Toussaint's departure from Lavalas he received little criticism from elites.
Dominique left behind a wife and daughter. His wife, Michele Montas, fled to the United States in late 2003 after the murder of her bodyguard and repeated death threats.
Dominique's life was the focus of the Jonathan Demme documentary The Agronomist. Wyclef Jean who called the ex-FAdH death squads invading Haiti in 2004 "freedom fighters" and who is the nephew of Pro-Coup and corrupt right-wing Haitian interim Ambassador Raymond Joseph, provided the music for the Agronomist.
