Haiti: Police killed four and arrested two of those responsible for killing Moise

The Haitian police killed four of the members of the command who allegedly assassinated the country’s president, Jovenel Moise, on Wednesday, and also arrested two other alleged participants in the assassination.

The arrests were announced this morning by the police and were carried out in an operation near Moise’s residence, which also allowed the release of three police officers who had been kidnapped.

The president of Haiti was assassinated this Wednesday during the incursion of the aforementioned command into his private residence in Port-au-Prince, an assassination that has destabilized the already fragile political situation in the Caribbean country.

The interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, assumed power after the death of Moise, declared a state of siege for 15 days and guaranteed that the situation in the country is “under control”, for which he ordered the deployment of the Police and the Armed Forces , who managed to intercept several of the assailants.

The murder took place just over two months before the presidential and legislative elections are scheduled to take place, on September 26, at a time when Parliament has been closed for a year and a half and the leadership of the Judiciary is not fully operational either.

A MOVIE ASSAULT

The assault took place at dawn, in Pelerin, an exclusive sector of mansions located on a hill in the highest part of Port-au-Prince and which is always usually heavily guarded by the security forces of the Presidency.

An undetermined group of men armed with rifles, who spoke in English and Spanish, according to the authorities’ version, entered the official residence, shot and killed Moise and seriously wounded his wife, Martine, who was transferred in an ambulance plane. to Miami, United States.

The numerous shells scattered on the asphalt in front of the residence and the bullet holes in the walls and in the vehicles parked there are visible signs of the violence of the assault, of which little data is known.

The authorities have not reported the number of fatalities in the assault nor have they offered any further information on the murderers, whose identities and whereabouts are unknown.

Moise’s two children, a boy and a woman, were taken to safe places, according to the Haitian ambassador in Santo Domingo, Smith Augustin.

SITE STATUS

The Haitian government immediately closed the Port-au-Prince airport and declared a national mourning and a state of siege, both for a period of 15 days.

Under the umbrella of the state of siege, all the troops of the Police and the Army have been mobilized and it has been announced that any meeting that could “encourage disorder” in the country will be prohibited, according to the first decree signed by the Acting Prime Minister.

Joseph spent less than 48 hours from being about to be relieved of office to concentrating all power in Haiti in his hands, since last Monday, in an attempt to approach sectors of the opposition, Moise appointed the new prime minister to Dr. Ariel Henry, who has not been inducted into the position.

In his first statement, the head of government asked all the opposition to condemn the assassination and join in the work of “giving continuity to the State.”

A GROWING CRISIS

The vast majority of the opposition responded to that call with a vehement condemnation of the assassination, including sections of the left that have fueled the persistent protests that staggered the Moise government on several occasions in the past three years.

Among them was also the Popular and Democratic Sector, a left-wing platform that came to appoint an interim president on February 7, the day on which they consider that Moise’s term ended and from which, in their opinion, he became usurp power.

The current Haitian crisis was unleashed in mid-2018 by allegations of corruption against Moise, a banana producer who reached the presidency boosted by the popularity of his predecessor, former president and singer Michel Martelly.

Since then, it has only worsened, with virulent episodes such as the complaint made by Moise on February 7, stating that the opposition was hatching a plan to assassinate him, similar to the one carried out on July 7.

Moise’s plans to pass a new constitution, through a referendum postponed twice and now called for the same election day, September 26, continued to strain the situation in recent months.

Gang violence, rampant since the beginning of June, has been the last chapter before leading to the assassination of the head of state.

INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION

The international condemnation of the assassination has been unanimous, while the Organization of American States (OAS) called for a “rapid international investigation” to bring those responsible to justice.

The last to be produced, that of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), based in San José, which expressed its condolences to the State of Haiti.

The UN Security Council will meet this Thursday behind closed doors to address the situation in Haiti, after Secretary General António Guterres called on all Haitians to preserve constitutional order and unite against violence.

The Dominican Republic, a country that shares an island with Haiti, also condemned the murder and reacted by closing its land border and banning all flights, except those destined to evacuate national or foreign diplomatic personnel, as well as Dominican citizens in the neighboring country.