Jacques Bino (died February 18, 2009) was a

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

an tax agent, activist and

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

official and representative. Bino was the first person killed during the violence associated with the 2009 French Caribbean general strikes. Bino was an active participant in the first month of the general strikes in Guadeloupe. However, Bino was shot and killed shortly after midnight on Wednesday, February 18, 2009, as he drove home from a protest. Bino approached a group of armed youths who were manning a makeshift barricade in the city of

Pointe-à-Pitre Pointe-à-Pitre (; gcf, label=Guadeloupean Creole, Pwentapit, , or simply , ) is the second largest (most populous) city of Guadeloupe after Les Abymes. Guadeloupe is an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in the ...

. The crowd opened fire on Bino's car. Bino's car was hit three times by 12-gauge Brenneke-style

shotgun slug A shotgun slug is a heavy projectile made of lead, copper, or other material and fired from a shotgun. Slugs are designed for hunting large game, and other uses, particularly in areas near human population where their short range and slow speed h ...

s. One of the shotgun blasts came through the front

windshield The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. Mo ...

of the car, striking Bino in the chest and killing him. There were no police in the area when Bino was killed. Jean-Michel Pretre, a local Guadeloupean

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

, has speculated that the youths, who were operating independently from the official strikes, may have mistaken Bino for a plainclothes police officer when they opened fire. Point-à-Pitre Mayor

Jacques Bangou Jacques Bangou (born October 27, 1950) is a Guadeloupean politician. He was the mayor of Pointe-à-Pitre (2008 to 2019), Guadeloupe's main city. 2009 Guadeloupe Riots Bangou was mayor in February 2009, when riots engulfed Pointe-à-Pitre during th ...

noted following Bino's death that, "For the past 48 hours the streets have been in the hands of groups of young people, completely out of control." Bino's murder may have marked a turning point in the general strikes, with both the French government and the LKP union groups beginning to take serious notice of the conflict. Bino's funeral was held on Sunday, February 22, 2009. His funeral was attended by former

French Socialist The Socialist Party (french: Parti socialiste , PS) is a French centre-left and social-democratic political party. It holds pro-European views. The PS was for decades the largest party of the "French Left" and used to be one of the two major p ...

presidential candidate

Ségolène Royal Marie-Ségolène Royal (; born 22 September 1953) is a French politician who was the Socialist Party candidate for the Presidency of France in the 2007 election. Royal was president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council from 2004 to 2014 ...

, who arrived on Saturday to attend his

memorial service A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

. Royal used the solemn occasion to criticize the government of French President

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

saying the government had "abandoned" Guadeloupe and urging it to find “solutions” to the crisis." Jacques Bino was 50 years old at the time of his murder. He was survived by his wife, Marie-Antoinette Bino, who lives in Pointe-à-Pitre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bino, Jacques 2009 deaths Guadeloupean trade unionists French trade unionists Guadeloupean murder victims People murdered in Guadeloupe Deaths by firearm in Guadeloupe Year of birth missing 2009 murders in North America