Funeral of the assassinated Haiti President Giovinel Mois Friday was interrupted by shooting nearby and the use of riot gas at protesters, prompting high-level officials U.S. delegation Leaving suddenly, other dignitaries hid in the vehicle for safety.
The state funeral in Cap-Haïtien in the northern city was designed to promote national unity, but the riots reflected a deep disagreement over the June 7 atrocities, in which foreign gunmen apparently walked into the president’s residence without challenge and shot Moiz several times, hurting him. Wife.
There is almost no answer as to who planned to kill or why.
There was no immediate report of injuries to protesters or authorities on Friday, and there was no indication that any guests at the funeral were in danger. Witnesses to Reuters smelled gas and heard explosions that they believed were shots fired outside the service scene.
Thick smoke billowed into the courtyard. Dozens of police and security officials formed a protective cordon around Haitian officials in the stands.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas Greenfield, led the U.S. delegation. According to a source familiar with the situation, the delegation heard gunfire and went home earlier than expected.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters: “The presidential delegation is safe and takes into account the shooting incident outside the funeral.”
“We are deeply concerned about the unrest in Haiti.”
Earlier, in a speech delivered when the delegation arrived in Cap-Haitien, Thomas Greenfield called on Haiti’s new prime minister, Ariel Henry, to create conditions for legislation and presidential elections “as soon as possible.”
“The Haitian people deserve democracy, stability, security and prosperity. We stand with them at this moment of crisis,” Thomas Greenfield said on Twitter. “We urge everyone to express themselves peacefully and avoid violence.”
A few minutes after a brass band and church choir kicked off Moise’s ceremony, trouble broke out.
The ceremony continued, and the family made speeches, but they were interrupted by the angry shouts of supporters, accusing the authorities of being responsible for Moise’s death. Their words are sometimes drowned out by the loudness of recorded gloomy church music.
The coffin was placed in a concrete tomb about ten feet (three meters) deep, covered with iron bars, and then sealed with wooden boards, cement, and large stones. The tomb is located near the tomb of Moiz’s father, who died last year, only a few years before he was 100 years old.
Haitian officials who participated in the event met the verbal anger of the protesters. A man called the chief of police Leon Charles a “criminal.”
“Why do you have so many security measures, where were the police on the day the president was assassinated?” a protester said.
The protests of Moise’s supporters shocked Cap-Haïtien, home of the killed leader, for three days.
Demonstrators have been venting their anger on many issues related to the assassination, including who planned it and why.
“You lost a game, but the war is not over. We must get justice for you,” Martina Moise, the president’s widow, said in Haitian Creole. After being injured in the attack, her face was almost He was covered by a wide-brimmed black hat and his right arm was tied with a sling.
She said that the system is not good for him on the grounds that strong commercial interests are seen as de facto oligarchy in the country, but did not provide details.
“Scream for justice. We don’t want revenge, we want justice,” she said.
For some, the assassination is a reminder that although the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere became the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to become independent from Europe in the early 19th century, the influence of foreign power on the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere continues.
The attack was carried out by a group including 26 former Colombian soldiers, at least six of whom had previously received U.S. military training. Haitian Americans are also among the defendants.
The authorities stated that the mercenaries disguised themselves as agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, and this trick helped them enter Moise’s home, and his security personnel did not resist. One of the arrested men was a Haitian American who had previously served as an informant for DEA.
The unrest has pushed Haiti higher on the foreign policy priorities of US President Joe Biden, who appointed a special envoy for the country on Thursday. But Biden rejected the request of the interim leader of Haiti to send troops to protect the infrastructure.
Moise himself faces major protests. He was accused of participating in embezzlement of more than $2 billion in Venezuelan aid in the Senate audit, and angered opponents through decree rulings and seeking to expand the president’s power.
Under his leadership, gang violence surged and the economy suffered heavy losses.
However, his hometown seems to have strong support. Banners celebrating Moise hung buildings in the narrow streets of the old town of Cap-Haïtien, and declared in Creole: “They killed the corpse, but the dream will never die” and “Jovenel Moise-the poor man’s Defenders”.
(Reporting by Dave Graham in Mexico City and Andre Poultry in Cap-Haiti; writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Ezquier Abiu Lopez in Santo Domingo and Michel Nichols in New York Additional reporting; Editing by Giles Elgood and Rosalba O’Brien)
