News Flash: Haiti President Jovenel Moïse Assassinated At Home

News Flash: Haiti President Jovenel Moïse Assassinated At Home

Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was slain in an attack on his private property, the country’s interim prime minister announced in a statement Wednesday, describing the assassination as a “hateful, brutal, and barbaric act.”

iexclusive News Nigeria reports that Interim Premier Claude Joseph confirmed that First Lady Martine Mose was hospitalized as a result of the nighttime incident. Under Mose, the country of more than 11 million people had become increasingly insecure and dissatisfied.

“The National Police of Haiti and the Armed Forces of Haiti are in charge of the country’s security situation,” Joseph said in a statement issued by his office. “Democracy and republic shall triumph.”

The streets of the Caribbean nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince, were mostly vacant in the early morning hours of Wednesday, but some people trashed businesses in one section.

According to Joseph, police have been dispatched to the National Palace and the wealthy community of Pétionville, and will be dispatched to other regions.

The assassination, according to Joseph, was a “hateful, brutal, and barbaric act.” He said that some of the attackers spoke Spanish but provided no additional explanation.

RT: Jovenel Moise and first lady Martine: Ceremony for the tenth anniversary of the 2010 earthquake, in Titanyen

Haiti’s economic, political and social woes have deepened recently, with gang violence spiking heavily in the capital of Port-au-Prince.

Inflation spiraling and food and fuel becoming scarcer at times in a country where 60% of the population makes less than $2 a day. 

These troubles come as Haiti still tries to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew that struck in 2016.

Jovenel Moïse, who was 53, had been ruling by decree for more than two years after the country failed to hold elections, which led to Parliament being dissolved. 

Opposition leaders have accused him of seeking to increase his power, including approving a decree that limited the powers of a court that audits government contracts and another that created an intelligence agency that answers only to the president.

Opposition leaders have called on him to resign in recent months, claiming that his term constitutionally expired in February 2021. 

Mose and his supporters contended that his term began when he assumed office in early 2017, following a messy election that necessitated the appointment of a provisional president to fill a year-long vacancy.

“The country of Haiti was set to host general elections later this year.”