30101: Morse: Refelctions on Murder (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

oloffsonram@aol.com

My best friend was murdered.

He was from Southern Italy. I am his first child's godfather. He was my first 
child's godfather. I think the year was 1999, but I always try and put those 
details out of my head. I told him not to take the job but he was so excited 
about doing something positive. I think his greatest joy in life was making 
people happy, especially those around him.

He came to Haiti back in 1985, the same year I arrived, to work for UNICEF. He 
was married in Haiti, to an Italian woman who moved here to be with him and his 
two children were born here. The children always considered themselves Haitian, 
which drove their mother crazy.

My friend and I met in Creole class at the Haitian American Institute. Every 
couple of years he would change jobs but his jobs were always with one of those 
international organizations. Eventually he was pegged to head the USAID 
Democracy Fund to get ready for the 2000 elections. I'm not sure if that was 
the exact name of the project, but I remember that it was USAID's biggest 
project at the time. I think he even spent time in Virginia to get training. 
Since my family has a house in Washington D.C. we would see each other on 
vacations.

My friend loved music. When he separated from his wife, he and his new fiance, 
a Haitian woman from Petionville, opened up a small bar/nightclub. The club 
gave him an opportunity to do some DJ'ing for his friends and it created a 
meeting place for like minded people.

If you ever saw the movie "The Untouchables", thats what my friend was like, 
uncorruptable. A few weeks before the monies for the Democracy Fund were to be 
released, some thugs came and beat my friend up in front of his children in his 
home. The message was clear. Get out of here. Leave the country. Instead, my 
friend hired two security guards, one for his home and one for the car. The 
weekend before the funds were released, he pulled up to his house, he stopped 
at the gate in front of his house and the security guard got out of the car. 
The other guard opened the gate from the inside and my friend drove in. There 
were several other people in the yard, one came up to the drivers side window 
and shot him in the head. The funds were yet to be released so he wasn't 
insured. I was in Miami. I was called in to identify the body. He was in the 
middle of a stack...

The 2000 elections went forward and some people even called them "democratic". 
Me, I have my reservations... The newspapers clearly stated that he was a bar 
owner but never mentioned The Democracy Fund. It was just a stickup. Random 
crime....
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