Former US presidential candidate Jesse Jackson has died

Today in the United States, Jesse Jackson, a well-known human rights activist, Protestant clergyman and politician, died at the age of 84.

He was the first African-American figure who in 1984 and 1988 launched a serious struggle for the nomination of the Democratic Party for the post of president. Despite his defeats in both cases, Jackson was considered the most influential and popular African-American figure in the United States for decades.

In February 1989, two months after the Spitak earthquake, Jackson arrived in Armenia, visiting the disaster zone, meeting with the leadership of Soviet Armenia and Catholicos of All Armenians Vazgen the First.