NAfter the assassination of Haitian President Giovinel Moise, his widow issued a public statement on the attack for the first time. “I am still alive, but I have lost my husband,” Martine Moïse said in an audio message posted on Twitter on Saturday. Haitian Communications Minister Pradel Enriquez confirmed the authenticity of the recording.
On Wednesday night, the head of state was shot dead at his home in Port-au-Prince. According to the police, a murder team composed of “26 Colombians and two Haitian American citizens” participated in the attack. Martine Moïse was injured in the attack and flew to Miami for treatment.
“In the blink of an eye, the mercenary broke into my house and hit my husband with bullets, not even giving him a chance to speak,” Moys said in an audio message. “His blood should not be allowed to flow in vain.” Martine Moïse said that her husband had campaigned for infrastructure expansion and autumn elections. “This is a battle he fought for us, and it must continue.”
According to reports, the United States temporarily refused to send troops to Haiti after the assassination attempt occurred. “There is currently no plan to provide U.S. military assistance,” the New York Times quoted a senior U.S. government official as saying on Friday. As the election minister Matthias Pierre told the international media, the interim government of Haiti has asked the former occupying power to send troops to help protect places important to infrastructure. The power struggle in Port-au-Prince became obvious: the Senate elected a new interim president.
The House of Lords is not a quorum
However, since January 2020, the upper house of the Haitian parliament has no longer reached a quorum. According to media reports on Friday, eight of the ten remaining senators still voted for Joseph Lambert, the former Senate Speaker, as the transitional successor to the head of state Moise. The two abstained accordingly. Lambert wrote on Twitter: “I express my heartfelt thanks to the political institutions that support me.” He wants to pave the way for democratic changes in power. Haitian presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in September.
The election of Lambert was seen as a challenge to the power claims of Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph. However, it was initially unclear whether Lambert could actually serve as interim president and appoint his own prime minister. As the parliamentary elections originally scheduled for October 2019 were cancelled due to violent protests against Moise, only 10 of the 30 senators have yet to expire. No one sits in the House of Commons, which is the House of Representatives.
According to a joint letter, several parties and movements in the Caribbean countries have agreed to Lambert as the interim head of state, and the country shares Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Neurosurgeon Ariel Henry will become interim prime minister and head of government. On Monday, Moise appointed him as the seventh prime minister during his tenure.
After the assassination attempt, Henry’s swearing-in was cancelled. Foreign Minister Joseph Joseph, who has served as interim prime minister since April, announced that he will stay in office temporarily. In the past few days, he has addressed the country, signed laws, and held talks with representatives of foreign governments. In an interview with Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste, Henry said that he believed he was the prime minister, not Joseph.
Captured 20 suspects
Up to now, 20 suspects in the homicide group have been arrested and 3 people have been killed. The Colombian leadership has confirmed that 13 former soldiers from South American countries are suspected of participating.
The background of the bill is unclear. Some activists and politicians suspect that this is a coup. According to the “New Daily News”, several people will be called to the prosecutor’s office to investigate the attack in the next few days-including the person in charge of the president’s security, as well as opposition politicians and two powerful businessmen who are said to be abroad. . .
The protests by Moise, which has been in power since 2017, have recently paralyzed Haiti time and time again. He was accused of corruption, ties to barbaric gangs, and authoritarian tendencies. In February, the opposition party appointed a transitional president because, in their view, Moise’s term had expired. Recently, bloody battles between gangs to control parts of the capital have displaced thousands of people and hindered the flow of goods. Therefore, the feasibility of the planned election is questionable.
