Rabat – Mercenaries entered the home of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise around 1:00 a.m on Wednesday, July 7, and assassinated the President with assault weapons. The First Lady Martine Moise was also at the residence during the attack and is currently being treated for injuries sustained from the attack.
Haiti’s interim Prime Minister, Claude Joseph, stated that the assailants may have been foreign agents. Video footage and eyewitness reports noted that one of the attackers shouted in American-English while impersonating a US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent.
“DEA operation. Everybody stand down. DEA operation. Everybody back up, stand down,” announced the gunman.
In addition, video footage from the president’s neighborhood reveals a near minute-long series of gunfire.
The president lived with his wife in the Pelerin 5 district, an affluent neighborhood outside the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.
High ranking Haitian officials stated that “these were mercenaries.”
The reports of the gunmen being foreign nationals have raised questions of foreign influence on Haiti’s political system.
On Monday, President Moise appointed Ariel Henry as Haiti’s new prime minister. The Carribean country is currently facing economic and security crises, and the assassination of the president will only intensify the state of turmoil.
Ariel Henry has yet to be sworn in by the Haitian Parliament and there are currently only 10 elected officials serving Haiti.
The incumbent Prime Minister attempted to suppress public outrage by noting that “the security situation in the country is under the control of the Haitian National Police and the Haitian Armed Forces.”
Political opponents to President Moise argued that the US-backed regime was authoritarian due to the president exceeding his presidential term of five years. Opposition forces attempted to stage a coup d’etat against the president in February 2021, which led to the arrest of 23 people.
International governments such as the UK, US, and Columbia have expressed their condolences over the death of the president.
