In Haiti, the police are fighting a group of armed men who are believed to have carried out the attack on President Jovenel Moise that night. According to their own statements, four alleged perpetrators have already been killed. “The police are still fighting the attackers,” said Police Chief Leon Charles in a televised address on Wednesday. So far, two of the attackers have been arrested in the fighting, said Charles.
On Wednesday night, unknown persons broke into the residence of 53-year-old Moïse in a suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince and shot him. His wife Martine was injured and brought to the US city of Miami 1,000 kilometers away for treatment, Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Bocchit Edmond, told international media. According to initial findings, the attackers were foreigners who posed as members of the US anti-drug agency DEA.
According to the Haitian Embassy in Washington, it was a well-coordinated attack by a well-trained and heavily armed group. Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said in an address to the nation that the perpetrators spoke English and Spanish.
Claude Joseph condemned the attack as “hateful, inhuman and barbaric” and called on the population to calm down. The security forces have the situation under control. “All measures are being taken to ensure the continued existence of the state and to protect the nation,” the government announced. The BBC reported that the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince were largely empty on Wednesday morning. The US has pledged its support to the country and the people, said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki. UN Secretary General António Guterres condemned the attack.
The violence is driving thousands to flee
Jovenel Moïse had been in power in the poorest country in the western hemisphere since 2017 and was highly controversial as president. He was accused of corruption and that he was linked to violent gangs that terrorize the country. At the beginning of the year, violent protests against him had sparked repeatedly in several cities in the Caribbean state. The demonstrators demanded that Jovenel Moïse resign.
According to the Haitian opposition, his five-year term also expired at the end of February. The 53-year-old Moïse had denied this and argued that he took office a year late. After allegations of electoral fraud, his election was declared invalid in 2015, and a new presidential election was not held until the following year.
The political situation in the country with a population of eleven million has long been unstable. The fighting by armed gangs for control of parts of the capital Port-au-Prince has displaced almost 15,000 people since the beginning of June, according to UN figures. Around 4.4 million Haitians therefore need humanitarian aid. In addition, new corona infections and deaths have recently increased significantly. The entire infrastructure of the country, from the health system to the water supply, only functions to a limited extent. The island of Hispaniola, on the eastern part of which the Dominican Republic is located, is often hit by severe cyclones. The aftermath of the severe earthquake in Haiti in 2010, which killed 300,000 people, was also never fully addressed.
By 1986, the infamous Duvalier family had ruled dictatorially for three decades. After the overthrow of left-wing populist President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former Catholic priest, in 2004, United Nations missions tried to maintain order in Haiti until autumn 2019. Parliamentary elections should have been held at this point, but were postponed due to disputes. Since then, President Moïse has ruled with the help of edicts.