Jean Dominique
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Jean Dominique | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Jean Leopold Dominique |
| Born | July 30, 1930 Port-au-Prince, Haiti |
| Died | April 3, 2000 Port-au-Prince, Haiti |
| Field | Journalism, Agronomy |
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 Kreyòl, 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, firmly believing in the cause of the Haitian plight. He was assassinated on April 3, 2000, a crime for which no one has ever been prosecuted.
[edit] History
Dominique was born into the elite of French society living in Haiti. His father, Leopold Dominique, moved the family there from France with a belief in the cause of the Haitian plight. After Jean completed his private schooling in both France and Haiti, he trained as an agronomist agriculturalist in Paris, France. He believed, as did his brothers, that to free the Haitian people was to educate and train them to take care of themselves. Upon his return to Haiti, 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 people. Distressed at what he saw, he emerged as one of the strongest critics of the militant 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."
In the early 1960s, he founded Haiti’s first independent radio station, Radio Haïti Inter—the first broadcast outlet in Creole, the language of 70 percent of Haitians. Dominique joined Radio Haïti initially as a reporter, and followed this in 1971, by purchasing the station's lease. 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.
“The only weapon I have is my microphone and my unshakable faith as a militant for change, veritable change,” Dominique once said. As a political adviser to Haiti’s President René Préval, he advocated holding elections this year but was criticized for his call to postpone them in order to ensure their fairness. [At press time, elections were scheduled for June.—WPR]
Despite pressure from the regimes of both "Papa Doc" and Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, Dominique continued criticizing and vocalizing what he perceived to be injustices in the treatment and ruling of the Haitian people. His goal was to allow the Haitian people to have a voice and “For Haitians to vote,” Dominique once said, “means more than in [Western countries]. It’s the way for the millions, who live in dirt and poverty, to prove to themselves that they are human. It is the difference between eternal darkness and light.” His vigorous advocacy of social and economic justice was what gave Dominique his unique stance among Haiti’s journalists.
This resulted in Radio Haïti being shut down several times. As a vocal opponent of Haiti’s infamous dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, Dominique was forced into exile in New York in 1980. Six years later, after Duvalier’s ouster, Dominique returned, only to leave again in 1991, this time together with ousted President Aristide, during Raoul Cédras’s military regime. Dominique went back to Haiti in 1994. He married Michele Montas, a fellow journalist, and they had three daughters.
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 Lavalas party that won the 1990 elections. 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.
Dominique was "a fighter for human rights and an advocate of democracy," writes Zurich’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
“Dominique championed free speech against civilian and military dictatorships and was Haiti’s most influential figure,” states Montreal’s The Gazette, “and he passionately followed the government’s attempt at land reform to settle disputes etween peasants and landowners.” He was the “sword of free expression,” writes Paris’s Le Nouvel Observateur, and Le Monde adds that Dominique “was a genuine symbol....He was Haiti’s most feared and most celebrated journalist.”
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 (a former 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 Dany 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, at 69 years of age, Jean 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. He was the most beloved hero of the Haitian people. Dominique left behind his wife, Michèle Montas, and three daughters: Jan-J (JJ), Nadine and Dolores. 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.
The U.S.-based expatriate Haiti en Marche refers to Dominique as a “grand journalist and a courageous man.” And journalists who had worked with Dominique praised his professional rigor and discipline. “[He] was always demanding with regard to objectivity, the verification of information, precautions to avoid defamation, and respecting the right of the grass-roots sector and the democratic movement to make itself heard in their fight against the oppressive dictatorship. His voice, it was his voice...it will continue to speak to us."
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. Toussaint was the prime suspect. While the Pharval 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 Aristide government arrested three alleged gunmen Ti Lou, Guimy and Markington, but they were never charged. These three men all mysteriously escaped under the U.S. installed 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 Aristide 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 allegedly exploiting the case for political purposes towards destabilizing Haiti's democratically elected government which was overthrown in February 2004.
The documentary The Agronomist suggests that Aristide and his government may have had a motive to kill Dominique. On December 16, 1996, Dominique had accused Aristide in a live interview that Aristide had showered the "big oligarchy" with gifts after returning to the country. Dominique said that that the oligarchs, in return, had corrupted the tax office and the electricity company, and that this corruption had been accepted by Lavalas.
At one point Dany Toussaint led a group of armed men into Haiti's senate and threatened Lavalas senators with guns if they voted to revoke his immunity. Lavalas leaders now claim that Toussaint was a rogue working the ex-military and was working against the government from the inside. Toussaint also hindered the government's attempt to alter the constitution to outlaw the military.
But RSF felt that Aristide government itself was hindering the investigation and called for a government aid embargo. An embargo (2001–2004) on aid to the desperate government greatly contributed to a health crisis causing an untold amount of damage.[citation needed] The Aristide government supported Gassant's investigation of the case more so then any other similar case in Haitian history but Gassant and the government were constantly at odds. The interim government of Gerald Latortue stalled the case and a few suspects were able to escape from prison.
Months prior to the 2004 coup, Dany Toussaint joined the political opposition to the elected government, and unsuccessfully ran for president in the 2006 presidential election. With Toussaint's departure from Lavalas he received little criticism from elites.
Guy Delva now claims that in fact one of the biggest anti-Aristide businessmen in the country, Senator Rudolph Boulos, is halting the Dominique case. Delva has accused Boulos of working to intimidate the press.
