Jean Dominique

Jean Léopold Dominique (July 30, 1930-April 3, 2000) was a noted Haitian journalist who spoke out against successive dictatorships. He was one of the first people in Haiti to broadcast in Creole, 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 Haiti. He was assassinated on April 3, 2000, a crime for which no one has ever been prosecuted.

Dominique was born into the elite of Haitian society. After completing his schooling, he trained as an agronomist in Paris, France. On his return, he began working with the peasantry. He became distressed at what he saw, and in time, emerged as one of the strongest critics of the regime of "Papa Doc" Duvalier. During the 1960s, he made one of Haiti's first documentaries.

In the late 1960s, Dominique joined Radio Haiti as a reporter, and followed this in 1971, by purchasing the station's lease. He also began broadcasting in Creole. This was the first time that a Haitian radio station had broadcast locally in the language spoken by most of the populace, as opposed to French, which was the language of a the ruling minority.

Despite pressure from the regimes of both "Papa Doc" and "Baby Doc" Duvalier, Dominique continued criticising what he perceived to be injustices. This resulted in Radio Haiti being shut down several times, and finally, in Dominique being forced into exile in the United States in 1980.

In 1986, Dominique returned to Haiti, 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 Haitian Senator), who 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 Haitian 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 Haiti and, towards the end of his life, figures in Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas Party (which had evolved out of the original Lavalas Party).

On April 3, 2000, Dominique was shot four times in the chest as he arrived for work at Radio Haiti. 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. Both the management of Pharval Laboratories and Senator Toussaint came under suspicion as a result of the murder. While the former 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.

Though six 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 Haitian government for not doing more to solve the case. Since the assassination, several large public protests have called for more action to be taken.

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.