Embattled leader assassinated; 4 suspects killed
The first explosions rang out after 1 a.m., shattering the calm in the neighborhood that was home to President Jovenel Moise and many of Haiti’s most affluent citizens.
Residents immediately feared two of the terrors that have plagued the nation — gang violence or an earthquake — but by dawn, a much different reality had emerged: The president was dead.
A group of unknown assailants had stormed Moise’s residence early on Wednesday, shooting him and wounding his wife, Martine Moise, in what officials called a wellplanned operation that included “foreigners” who spoke Spanish.
In a televised broadcast to the nation, the nation’s interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, appealed for calm and presented himself as the new head of the government, announcing that he and his fellow ministers had declared a “state of siege.” Haiti is now under a form of martial law.
The assassination left a political void that deepened the turmoil and violence that has gripped Haiti for months, threatening to tip one of the world’s most troubled nations further into lawlessness.
Moise had been ruling by decree for more than a year after failing to hold elections, and the opposition demanded he step down in recent months, saying he was leading it toward yet another grim period of authoritarianism.
While the details of who shot the president and why remained unknown, four people suspected of being involved in the assassination were killed by the police in a gun battle and two others were arrested, Haiti’s police chief said late Wed
nesday.
The chief, Léon Charles, also said that three police officers who had been held hostage were freed.
“The police are engaged in a battle with the assailants,” he said at a news conference, noting that the authorities were still chasing some suspects. “We are pursuing them so that, in a gunfight, they meet their fate or in gunfight they die, or we apprehend them.”
Armed gangs have taken
greater control of the streets, terrorizing poor neighborhoods, kidnapping even schoolchildren and church pastors in the middle of their services. Poverty and hunger are rising, with many accusing members of the government of enriching themselves while not providing the population with even the most basic services.
In an interview, Joseph told The New York Times that he was now in control of the country, but it was unclear how
much legitimacy he had, or how long it might last. A different prime minister had been scheduled to replace Joseph this week and become the sixth prime minister in Moise’s term. The head of the nation’s highest court, who might have helped establish order, died of COVID19 in June.
“We are in total confusion,” said Jacky Lumarque, rector of Quisqueya University, a large private university in PortauPrince.