Haiti sinks deeper into chaos 1 year after president’s slaying
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A year has passed since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated at his private home where an elite security team was supposed to protect him. Not only have authorities failed to identify and arrest all those who masterminded and financed the killing, but Haiti has gone into free fall as violence soars and the economy tumbles.
Many have fled Haiti in the past year, making potentially deadly voyages aboard rickety, crowded boats to the shores of nearby nations. They chose to face that risk rather than go hungry and fear for their lives like others who have stayed behind.
“Every day is a fight. It’s a fight to stay alive. It’s a fight to eat. It’s a fight to survive,” said Hector Duval, a plumber who now drives a motorcycle taxi to make more money since Haitians are afraid to board slow-moving buses and chance being killed by warring gangs.
Killings have soared and thousands of families have been driven from their homes by gangs battling over territory ever since Moise was shot July 7, 2021, at his home near the capital, Port-au-Prince.
An overwhelmed government is struggling to crack down on the gangs and reduce a spike in kidnappings linked to them. At the same time, attempts to form a coalition government have faltered in recent weeks and efforts to hold general elections have stalled, leaving many wondering where Haiti is headed.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry has promised to create a new provisional council to organize general elections, but that hasn’t happened. There hasn’t
been a Parliament because the government failed to organize elections in 2019, and Moise dismissed most lawmakers in early 2020 and ruled by decree for more than a year before he was killed.
Meanwhile, hopes for trials of those arrested in the assassination have been derailed by the resignation of four judges appointed to oversee the investigation, with some saying they feared for their lives.
Henry himself has recognized the uncertainty hovering over the case. Last month, he tweeted: “I have the unpleasant feeling that those who conceived and financed this macabre plan are still running the streets and are still escaping our judicial system.”
Speaking at a commemorative event July 1, he expressed “my determination to encourage, relentlessly, the pursuit of the investigation until its conclusion.”
As he spoke, hundreds of Moise supporters wearing T-shirts demanding justice marched through the capital toward the house where he was killed chanting, “Jojo, we will never forget you!” Some also demanded that Henry be arrested.
More than 40 people have been arrested in Haiti, including high-ranking police officers and a group of former Colombian soldiers. At least two of three suspects detained outside Haiti were extradited to the U.S., where they face charges including conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States.
The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti noted that the investigation seems to have stalled and called on authorities to bring those responsible to justice as soon as possible.
“Since this crime was committed, growing insecurity, linked to the proliferation of acts of violence committed by armed gangs, has terrorized Haitian citizens and monopolized public debate in a context where the challenges facing the country are increasing day by day,” it said.
The United Nations says that in May alone more than 200 killings and 198 abductions were reported.
“Even though we have a prime minister, no one is governing the country right now,” said Ralf Jean-Pierre, a businessman from Les Cayes who lives in Port-auPrince.