Haiti Prime Minister declared that the attack was carried out by an ‘armed commando group’ of foreign origin.
HAITI, (July 07, 2021).- The president of Haiti, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated on Wednesday, July 7th, by armed men who carried out an assault operation on his residence in the Pelerin neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Prime Minister Claude Joseph reported.
The first lady, Martine Moise, who is receiving medical care, was shot in the assault, according to a statement read by Joseph on the radio.
“At one in the morning, July 7, a group of unidentified people, who spoke in Spanish and English, assassinated the President of the Republic. The president has died from his injuries, ”said the acting prime minister.
Joseph called for the population to calm down and assured that the “security situation in the country is under control” and condemned the assassination, which he described as “an act of barbarism.”
The murder takes place two months before the presidential and legislative elections called for next September 26, elections in which Moise could not be a candidate.
Moise had called a referendum for the same date to approve a new Constitution, a project that did not have the support of the opposition or the international community.
Haiti has been going through a strong political crisis since mid-2018 and experienced its most serious moment on February 7, the date on which Moise denounced that the opposition, with the support of judges, was plotting a coup.
At the same time, Haiti is going through a deep security crisis, which has been aggravated especially since the beginning of June by territorial struggles between armed gangs vying for control of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince.
