Gasner, Monferrier, Jovenel One Same Night Over the Republic: Hommage, For Memory and Unease

On June 1, 1976, journalist Gasner Raymond was found lifeless by the roadside.  

On August 28, 2020, Monferrier Dorval, bâtonnier of Port-au-Prince, fell to gunfire.  

On July 7, 2021, President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in his own residence.

Three dates. Three faces.  

One same night stretching across the Republic.

One wrote against corruption.  

One defended the rule of law.  

One wielded the authority of the state.

None deserved death.

In a democracy, life is not negotiable. 

We may debate, contest, dissent but when guns replace words, it is not merely a person who falls.

It is the Nation itself that trembles.

Five years have passed since the president’s assassination.  

Memory remains sharp.  

Truth remains partial.  

Justice remains hesitant.

If a 23-year-old journalist can be killed for exposing corruption;  

if a bâtonnier can be slain without clear resolution;  

if a president can die without a full and transparent accounting;

what, then, is the ordinary citizen to hope for?

And so the unease widens.

If justice does not come for them,  

will it come for TiJean, for Ti Marie, for TiJo and for the countless others whose names dissolve into the ceaseless noise of impunity?

To pay tribute is not to flatter.  

It is to refuse silence.  

It is to reject the slow normalization of fear.

A dignified Republic protects life.  

A just Republic brings light to darkness.  

Otherwise, what remains?  

Ceremonies.  

Fragments of memory.  

Tributes like this one,

and questions that refuse to die.

By Pierre-Richard Raymond  

July 6, 2026 — New York

Culture509