The president of Haiti, Jovenel Moise, has been killed at his Port-au-Prince residence at about 3 a.m. on Wednesday. His wife also reportedly died after being injured in the assassination attempt – but this remains to be fully confirmed. And Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph declared a “state of siege” following the tragic incident.
According to local reports, some armed gunmen stormed the state capital residence of the president at 1 a.m. and assassinated him. While his wife reportedly died from injuries sustained during the attack, the Haitian government denies this fact. Moise, 53, rose to power in February 2017 after Michel Martelly, his predecessor, stepped down from office.
The “state of siege” declaration ordered by interim PM Claude Joseph empowers the nation’s military and police to enforce martial law on a temporary basis while the borders remain closed. Haiti has three levels of emergency: the first level is “state of emergency,” and the second level is “state of siege,” and the third and highest level is the “state of war”.
Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit mourned the loss of Moise, saying his country has been embroiled in security and political upheavals for a long time. This situation led to the postponement of general elections last year. He said however that CARICOM heads of government will hold an emergency meeting in the next few days to resolve the crisis in Haiti.
We’ve been in touch with the authorities in Haiti, but it’s rather unfortunate that it has [gotten] to the [level of the] assassination of President Moïse. The situation in Haiti is very unstable; I’m sure CARICOM will convene a meeting sometime today to discuss the situation with other partners and to see how we can help to bring some level of order and process in Haiti at this time.
Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica
While condemning the assassination of Moise, political scientist Alex Bruno said the assassinated of the Haitian president stemmed from the fact that he had been in office for the fifth year of a 5-year term tenure and he that he was attempting to amend his country’s constitution to facilitate his re-election.
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