In July, the government appointed the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux to provide legal support for the investigation. And in September, the justice minister appointed a new judge because of delays in the investigation. Ha ti Inter, told CPJ that four suspects had been arrested so far. One of them apparently died of heart failure after surgery for minor bullet wounds, and his body later mysteriously disappeared from the local morgue. In Haiti, where as many as eight out of every 10 people cannot read and the price of a television set can exceed the average yearly wage, radio remains the primary medium, with dozens of FM stations on the air.
Many stations are partisan, and virtually none do investigative work because of the risks involved.
Aristide, whose inauguration was set for February 7, was re-elected on November 26 with 92 percent of the vote in a national election shunned by international allies and major opposition parties, after Haiti failed to rectify tainted results from parliamentary elections held on May 21. Press freedom violations linked to election violence and intimidation drove several reporters into exile. On April 8, the day of Dominique's state funeral, a pro-Lavalas mob that had just burned down the nearby headquarters of an opposition party went on to Radio Vision 2000, screaming incendiary slogans and calling for Valet and Dorzilme. On the day of the presidential election, November 26, several radio stations received threats after they reported low voter turnout in the capital and outer provinces. Some anonymous callers ordered stations not to comment on the elections.