Veteran Dominican journalist dies

SOURCE: CMC- Veteran journalist and publisher, Parry Bellot died Monday at the Dominica China Friendship Hospital, relatives have confirmed.

They said Bellot, who was in his 70’s, had been a patient at the hospital for the past week. The cause of death had not been disclosed, but media reports said he had been suffering from problems linked to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Bellot, who began his journalism career in 1976 and was the publisher of Link news magazine that first appeared here in 1977.

Bellot, who served as a press communication adviser to the Eugenia Charles administration in the 1980’s and as a consultant to the Roosevelt Skerrit government, was a founding member of the Dominica Media and Communications Association.

Last month, the outspoken public figure had threatened to file a lawsuit against the opposition Dominica Freedom Party for defamation. He told a news conference that the planned legal action was against the party’s political leader, Kent Vital and its president, Johnson Boston, over comments they made on their weekly party radio programme during the 2019 general election campaign.

Bellot is survived by his wife, Claudia.