Orlando Martínez Howley

Who was Orlando Martínez Howley?

Orlando Martinez Howley was a left-wing journalist and member of the Communist Party of the Dominican Republic. He was born in Las Matas de Farfán in the Dominican Republic, in 1944. He was assassinated on 17 March 1975 during one of the administrations of President Joaquín Balaguer, who, knowing the identity of killers, opted to not tell who they were and just wrote a "blank page" in one of his books, supposedly leaving for posterity the knowledge of who the killers were. Orlando had written articles critical of the president. In 2000, four men were given 30-year jail sentences in connection with the killing. Orlando Martinez has become a symbol of freedom of expression in the Dominican Republic.