Brignol Lindor

Nearly a full year after Lindor was murdered, more than 8,000 protesters walked through the streets of Petit-Goâve, Haiti, on 18 November 2002, and chanted "Down with Aristide!" and "Justice for Brignol!" according to a report by Radio Vision 2000

Lindor began his career as a journalist as a member of the Haitian Press Agency, and then spent four years as a correspondent for at Radio Signal FM. Lindor later helped organize the Association des Journalistes de Petit Goave, where he served as Adjunct General Secretary, and worked as the news editor for the private station Radio Echo 2000 from 1995 until 2001. During this time he also worked as a customs agent and taught. At Radio Echo 2000, he hosted a political show called "Dialogue," on which he interviewed political figures, including Aristide supporters. On 28 November 2001, he conducted an interview with members of the 15-party opposition coalition Convergence Démocratique (English: Democratic Convergence). Because of his open opposition to the Fanmi Lavalas political party, the Mayor had given him the nickname "Iron Pants." This nickname also earned Lindor countless death threats from local authorities and radical supporters of President Aristide.

On the morning of 3 December 2001, Lindor and Emmanuel Espoir Clédanor, a former journalist for Radio Plus, were en route to the village of Miragoâne. When they reached L'Acul, approximately 5 km outside of Petit-Goâve, their vehicle was attacked by members of “Dómi Nan Bwa", who are supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party. Clédanor managed to escape unharmed. Lindor attempted to hide in the nearby home of Mr. Zéphir Pétuel, President of the Assembly of the Communal Section (ASEC) of the First Plain and member of Popular Organization "Dòmi nan Bwa." As Lindor was chased by his attackers, he was forced to surrender and then hacked to death with machetes.

Directly related to this political tension, the beginning of 2001 marked an enormous decline in press freedom in Haiti, with close to 40 journalists having faced violent threats or attacks in that year alone. The majority of these threats and attacks were initiated by either police or supporters of President Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas Party, therefore greatly reducing the likelihood of any government intervention on behalf of the victims of this violence. That situation was a direct result of President Aristide's instatement of a "zero tolerance" campaign against crime in June of that year. Through this campaign, police officers were allowed and even encouraged to punish criminals on the spot, without a trial, if they are caught red-handed. Members of the press/media in Haiti were often characterized by President Aristide as members of the opposition, but such allegations served as a way of justifying the violence that was being committed against them, regardless of whether or not the allegations were in fact true.

Haiti has experienced several long periods of political tension, one of which can be traced back to the decision by a group of small political organizations to boycott the presidential elections of 2000. This boycott was their way of protesting the parliamentary elections earlier that year, which they claimed had fraudulently awarded 15 of the 19 Senate seats and eighty percent of seats in the House of Assembly to Jean Bertrand Aristide's newly formed Fanmi Lavalas party. This group of political organizations later joined together to form an alliance known as the Convergence Démocratique, also referred to as the "opposition," which sought to undermine the authority of President Aristide.

Lindor has not been the only journalist to be killed in Haiti, as in 2000 Jean Léopold Dominique of Radio Haiti-Inter and Gérard Denoze of Radio Plus met the same fate.

Lindor proved to be a prominent and influential voice for democracy in Haiti, specifically in his small town of Petit-Goâve. He did not associate himself with any one political group, but instead used his position at Radio Echo 2000 to give all groups the chance to share their views and opinions. The nature of Lindor's murder was especially gruesome, and acted as a new kind of warning for all members of the media that are considered to be aligned with the opposition. A dozen other journalists were so afraid that they would meet the same fate as Lindor that they fled the country soon after his murder.

Brignol Lindor (/ˈbriːnjoʊl ˈlɪndɔːr/ (listen); 4 November 1970 – 3 December 2001), was a Haitian radio journalist and news editor, lawyer and teacher. Lindor was a prominent voice in politics, speaking mostly on behalf of the Democratic interests of the Haitian people. His brutal murder was blamed on threats from leftist politicians who supported President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Lindor was born in Petit-Goâve on 4 November 1970. Lindor had a younger brother, Moréno, and younger sisters, Nene, Dedel, Liline and Marie Michele. He attended École Nationale des Palmes for his primary education and went on to Lycee Faustin Soulouque for his secondary education, which are both in Petit-Goâve. He went on to study journalism and law in the Faculté de Droit et des Sciences Economiques at the École de Droit des Gonaïves, where he earned his law degree.