article from the Miami Herald:
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Haiti President Jovenel Moïse assassinated in middle-of-the-night attack at his home
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES AND JOHNNY FILS-AIMÉ SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD
JULY 07, 2021 06:12 AM, UPDATED 1 HOUR 49 MINUTES AGO
Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was killed and his wife shot during an armed attack in the early hours of Wednesday at their private residence above the hills of Port-au-Prince, the country’s acting prime minister, Claude Joseph, said.
In a statement from the prime minister’s office, Joseph said the attack occurred around 1 a.m. Wednesday, and some of the unidentified assailants spoke Spanish. The head of state, the statement said, was “fatally injured.”
First Lady Martine Moïse was wounded, the statement said. Haiti’s ambassador to the U.S., Bocchit Edmond, said Wednesday afternoon that the government is working on having her flown to Miami for treatment of gunshot wounds.
The assailants claimed to be agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to videos taken by people in the area of the president’s home. Moïse, 53, lives in Pelerin 5, a neighborhood just above the hills in the capital.
On the videos, someone with an American accent is heard yelling in English over a megaphone, “DEA operation. Everybody stand down. DEA operation. Everybody back up, stand down.”
Sources told the Miami Herald that the assailants, one of whom spoke in English with an American accent, were not with the DEA.
“These were mercenaries,” a high-ranking Haitian government official said.
Biden Administration officials denied DEA involvement.
Residents reported hearing high-powered rounds fired with precision, and seeing men dressed in black running through the neighborhoods. There are also reports of a grenade going off and drones being used.
The president’s death will throw Haiti into further disarray.
Since coming into office in 2017, Moïse had faced mounting protests over his governance amid a deepening political and constitutional crisis, questions about his legitimacy and accusations that he used armed gangs to remain in power. He also was accused of corruption as part of a far-reaching report into how multiple Haitian governments spent nearly $2 billion in aid from Venezuela’s PetroCaribe program.
“There is no constitutional answer to this situation,” said Bernard Gousse, a former justice minister and legal expert.
There are only 10 elected officials in the country, all senators. Joseph, the current interim primer minister, has not been ratified by the country’s parliament and has resigned. The new prime minister Moïse appointed this week, Ariel Henry, has yet to be sworn in. There isn’t even a president of the Supreme Court:
René Sylvestre, the president, died last week from COVID-19 and the oldest member of the court currently heads a shadow government put in place earlier this year by the opposition.
In a possible power play, some Haitian government critics are discussing installing Joseph Lambert, the head of the 10-member Senate, as provisional president.
Haitians awoke to the news Wednesday morning in shock. Streets in the capital, normally teeming with vehicles and public buses, were empty and void of traffic. The country’s main airport, Toussaint Louverture International Airport, was closed except for diplomatic and humanitarian flights, airport director general Irving Mehu said.
The road leading to the entrance of the neighborhood of Pelerin, where the president’s residence is located, was blocked off.
In his statement, Joseph condemned what he described as an “odious, inhuman and barbaric act,” and has called a special security meeting. He called on the population to remain calm.
“The security situation in the country is under the control of the Haitian National Police and the Haitian Armed Forces,” the statement said.
Moïse’s assassination comes exactly three years to the date that his government, under then Prime Minister Guy Lafontant, announced a controversial hike on fuel prices.
Less than 24 hours after the increases went into effect
violent demonstrations engulfed Port-au-Prince, forcing U.S. airlines to cancel flights. It was the start of what’s been referred to as
“peyi locke” or country on lockdown, a paralyzing economic blockade that went on for months, and forced schools and businesses to close.
The attack happened a day after
Moïse named a new prime minister, Henry, to take charge as head of the government and prepare the country for elections in the next two months for president, a new parliament and local government officials.
Moïse had been ruling by decree since January 2020, and had been under pressure by the Biden administration to hold presidential and long-over due legislative elections before the end of the year.
The U.S., which supported Moïse, had increasingly criticized some of his decisions, such as the creation of a secret intelligence agency and a decree redefining common protest practices like burning tires as terrorism. He was also criticized for firing three Supreme Court justices, whom the opposition had singled out as possible leaders of a transition.
Hours after the assassination, President Joe Biden condemned what he called a “heinous” act and offered U.S. assistance.
“We are shocked and saddened to hear of the horrific assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the attack on First Lady Martine Moïse of Haiti,” Biden said in a statement. “We condemn this heinous act, and I am sending my sincere wishes for First Lady Moïse’s recovery.”
The U.S. embassy in Haiti said it would close on Wednesday, citing an “ongoing” security situation.
The assassination was immediately condemned by some U.S. lawmakers and regional leaders, including President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic and Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who is the new chair of the 15-member Caribbean Community regional group known as CARICOM.
“We regret and condemn the assassination of the Haitian president, Jovenel Moïse and the first lady, Martine Moïse,” Abinader said in a tweet. “This crime undermines the democratic order of Haiti and the region. Our condolences to his family and the Haitian people.”
Browne noted that it was just Tuesday evening that leaders of the Caribeean Community group known as CARICOM expressed concerns about Haiti, where a new wave of armed gang violence has forced the displacement of more than 16,000 Haitians from poor, working-class neighborhoods since June 1.
“It is regrettable that President Moïse fell prey to the violence and paid the ultimate price, of losing his life,” Browne said. “We hope that his assassination does not fuel heightened violence and instability, but it would serve as a sober reflection for the Haitian people to pursue a sustainable path to peace and prosperity.”
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres condemned the assassination in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
“The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse of the Republic of Haiti. The perpetrators of this crime must be brought to justice,”’ the statement said. “The Secretary-General extends his deepest condolences to the people and Government of Haiti and the family of the late President.”
U.S. Rep. Andy Levin, the Michigan Democrat who co-chairs the House Haiti Caucus and is member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, offered his condolences to Moïse’s family and said he was praying for the swift recovery of Martine Moïse following the “heinous act.”
He called on the Biden administration to pursue a new policy toward Haiti “that puts the will and well being of the Haitian people first.”
“The murder of Jovenel Moïse is a devastating if not shocking example of the extent to which the security situation in Haiti has unraveled. For months, violent actors have terrorized the Haitian people with impunity while the international community—the United States included, I fear—has failed to heed their cries to change course and support a Haitian-led democratic transition,” Levin said.
The congressman added that Joseph’s “claim that the Haitian national police and armed forces have the country’s security in hand strikes one as absurd in the immediate aftermath of the brazen murder of the de facto president and just two days after Moïse had announced Joseph’s own replacement as prime minister with no consultation or political support.”
“It is essential to bringing about true peace and security and preventing more atrocities like that which occurred this morning,” Levin added.
Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called for a full investigation of the killing, and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida urged the Biden administration to help in the local probe.
“I urge President Biden to direct the Department of State to support the Haitian National police and help bring the murderers to justice,” Rubio said. “We cannot allow this cowardly, evil attack to bring even more hardship to the people of Haiti and further destabilize their country.”
McClatchy Washington Bureau reporters Michael Wilner and Francesca Chambers contributed to this story.
Video of the scene after Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was killed during an armed attack at his private residence above the hills of Port-au-Prince shows cars with bullet holes, shell casings on the ground, and discarded ski masks. BY JOHNNY FILS-AIMÉ
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