Haitian police track down Moise killers as fear of chaos grows | Latin America News

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Security forces in Haiti have shot dead four suspected assassins of President Jovenel Moise and captured two more, the country’s police chief said on Wednesday, as the brazen assassination threatened to plunge the already impoverished and more into crisis Caribbean nation deep in chaos.

Police Director General Leon Charles called the four killed “mercenaries” and said security forces were engaged in a fierce shootout with the men who murdered the president at his home overnight.

“We blocked them en route as they left the scene of the crime,” Charles said in television comments. “Since then, we have been fighting with them. “

“They will be killed or apprehended. “

Moise, a 53-year-old former businessman who took office in 2017, was shot dead and his wife, Martine Moise, was seriously injured when heavily armed assassins stormed the couple’s home in the hills above Port-au-Prince around 1 a.m. Wednesday time (05:00 GMT).

Bocchit Edmond, Haiti’s Ambassador to the United States, said the gunmen were well-trained “foreign mercenaries” and posed as agents of the State Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). – United when they entered the guarded house of Moses under cover of darkness.

The DEA has an office in the Haitian capital to assist the government with anti-narcotics programs, according to the United States Embassy.

Moise’s wife, Martine, was in stable but critical condition and had been evacuated to Miami for treatment, the ambassador added.

“Act of barbarism”

The assassination, which drew condemnation from Washington and neighboring Latin American countries, came amid political turmoil, an upsurge in gang violence and a growing humanitarian crisis in the country’s most poor of the Americas.

Joseph Claude, the acting prime minister who assumed leadership of the country, said the assassins spoke English and Spanish – the majority in Haiti speak either French and Haitian Creole.

“I appeal for calm. Everything is under control, ”Joseph said on television alongside Charles. “This barbaric act will not go unpunished.

The Haitian government has declared a two-week state of emergency to help track down the killers.

In a previous interview with the Associated Press news agency, Joseph called for an international investigation into the assassination and said elections slated for later this year should take place. He also pledged to work with allies and opponents of Moses.

“We need everyone to move the country forward,” said Joseph. He described the president as “a man of courage” who had opposed “certain oligarchs in the country” and said: “We believe that these things are not without consequences”.

Haiti, a country of about 11 million people, has struggled to achieve stability since the fall of the Duvalier dynastic dictatorship in 1986, and has been grappling with a series of coups and foreign intervention . Over the past year, Moise had ruled by decree after failing to hold an election, and in recent months the opposition demanded he resign, claiming he was leading him into another dark period of authoritarianism. .

Since taking office in 2017, Moise has faced calls for resignation and mass protests – first for allegations of corruption and his management of the economy, and then for his growing grip on the power.

Lately, he has presided over an increase in gang violence which human rights activists say is linked to politics and business leaders using armed groups for their own ends.

Global concern

In the United States, President Joe Biden condemned Moise’s murder as “heinous” and called the situation in Haiti – which is some 700 miles (1,125 km) from the Florida coast – worrying. “We are ready to help as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti,” he said.

The Dominican Republic said it was closing the border and strengthening security in the region, but called the border “completely calm.”

“This crime is an attack on the democratic order of Haiti and the region,” said President of the Dominican Republic Luis Abinader.

Members of the National Army of the Dominican Republic guard the bridge between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, after the closure of the common border in Dajabon [Ricardo Rojas/Reuters]

Antonio Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, also condemned the assassination and stressed that “the perpetrators of this crime must be brought to justice”, according to a spokesperson. The UN Security Council meanwhile expressed deep shock and sympathy for Moise’s death ahead of a closed-door meeting Thursday, requested by the United States and Mexico, to assess the situation.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) on Wednesday expressed concern that the violence could hamper efforts to fight COVID-19 in Haiti – one of the few countries in the world that has yet to have administered a single injection of the coronavirus vaccine.

Powerful vacuum cleaner

In Port-au-Prince, the usually busy streets were mostly deserted on Wednesday and the airport was closed although gunshots erupted in the air.

A caravan of vehicles, including the ambulance carrying Moise’s corpse to the morgue, had to change routes due to gunfire and roadblocks, local reports said.

With Haiti politically polarized and facing increasing hunger, fears of a collapse of order are spreading – especially since Moise’s murder took place in a power vacuum.

Just this week he appointed a prime minister to replace Joseph – who was only supposed to be an interim leader – but the official, Ariel Henry, has yet to be sworn in. And the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who is expected to help ensure stability in a crisis, recently died of COVID-19.

Children walk in a deserted street in front of the cathedral destroyed by the 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Wednesday July 7, 2021 [Joseph Odelyn/AP]

In the AP interview, Joseph said he spoke with Henry three times and it was agreed he was in charge at the moment.

“He was actually appointed but never took office,” Joseph said of Henry. “I was the one who was Prime Minister, who was in office. That’s what the law and the constitution say.

However, in a separate interview with AP, Henry appeared to contradict Joseph. “It’s an exceptional situation. There is a bit of confusion, ”he said. “I am the incumbent Prime Minister.

Late Wednesday, an extraordinary issue of the Official Gazette said that the prime minister and his cabinet – that is, Joseph’s government – would assume executive powers until a new president can be elected, in accordance with the constitution of Haiti.

Presidential, legislative and local elections are due to take place in September, alongside a controversial referendum on a new constitution which Moise says would finally help bring political stability to the country.

Alex Dupuy, a Haitian-born sociologist at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, said the best scenario would be for the interim prime minister and opposition parties to come together and hold elections.

“But in Haiti, nothing is taken for granted. It depends on the current balance of power in Haiti, ”he said, describing the situation as dangerous and volatile.

The main opposition parties have said they are very dismayed by the murder.

“In this painful circumstance, the political forces of the opposition condemn with the utmost rigor this heinous crime which is in contradiction with democratic principles”, declared their press release.

The parties added that they hope the National Police will take all necessary measures to protect lives and property, and called on Haitians to be “extremely vigilant”.



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