Haitian President Jovenel Moise has been assassinated
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Out of the 28 people captured 26 are columbian mercenaries
www.local10.com
Haitian police: 26 of 28 mercenaries in president’s murder are Colombian, 2 are Haitian American
As the investigation into the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse continued, Haitian authorities announced Thursday that 17 suspects were detained, three were killed during a shootout, and eight fled.
This is all on the police and military leadership...
They got western intelligence moles all up in that muthafucka.
For them to allow some shit like this
They better hope the crowd don't get to
The killers..
Whom we inow are going to allow be allowed to leave
They got western intelligence moles all up in that muthafucka.
For them to allow some shit like this
They better hope the crowd don't get to
The killers..
Whom we inow are going to allow be allowed to leave
Now who hired them ...
Natives have always sold each other out. It's always been that way and unfortunately it continues to occur....
also this shit was not well thought out if they caught these cats tht quick...
the reason to use mercs or for us out of town ni99as is so they hit n get right back out of town ...
there should have been a plane boat whtever waiting on them cats 5 mins after the hit ...
this shit stinks to high heaven ... but dont mind me ...believe the media n all this bullshit if u want to ...
the reason to use mercs or for us out of town ni99as is so they hit n get right back out of town ...
there should have been a plane boat whtever waiting on them cats 5 mins after the hit ...
this shit stinks to high heaven ... but dont mind me ...believe the media n all this bullshit if u want to ...
He went in on The Levi Strauss Company presence in Haiti
https://theintercept.com/2019/03/20/haiti-president-mercenary-operation/
This all has too many connections and ends that lead directly back to the USA. Wasn't sure what to expect, but would've never guessed Colombians. Yet there's been so much political chaos in Haiti that the link above explains a small part of what I think this may relate to.
I see some ask what does Haiti have that is of great value --- its people are their most prized and valuable of resources. They've already proven that when they come together they can topple colonialism. Cacs don't forget that. But the levels of Gov't corruption, political power clashes, exploitation and stealing of foreign aid money is too much to contend against. They are prisoners to the USAs imperialistic practices. There has to be some type of renewed revolution for Haiti's true independence.
This all has too many connections and ends that lead directly back to the USA. Wasn't sure what to expect, but would've never guessed Colombians. Yet there's been so much political chaos in Haiti that the link above explains a small part of what I think this may relate to.
I see some ask what does Haiti have that is of great value --- its people are their most prized and valuable of resources. They've already proven that when they come together they can topple colonialism. Cacs don't forget that. But the levels of Gov't corruption, political power clashes, exploitation and stealing of foreign aid money is too much to contend against. They are prisoners to the USAs imperialistic practices. There has to be some type of renewed revolution for Haiti's true independence.
Haitian police now say that two US citizens are among 17 alleged ‘foreign mercenaries’ who have been arrested in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
James Solages, 35, and Joseph Vincent, both US citizens of Haitian descent, were arrested along with 15 Colombian nationals over Wednesday’s brazen raid on Moïse’s mansion in the hills above Port-au-Prince, according to Haitian police.
Solanges, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, is the president of a charity based in south Florida and claims to be a former bodyguard at Canada’s embassy in Haiti. Vincent lives in the Miami area. Both men were born in Haiti, officials said.
https://timesnewsexpress.com/news/w...longside-15-colombians-in-presidents-killing/
also this shit was not well thought out if they caught these cats tht quick...
the reason to use mercs or for us out of town ni99as is so they hit n get right back out of town ...
there should have been a plane boat whtever waiting on them cats 5 mins after the hit ...
this shit stinks to high heaven ... but dont mind me ...believe the media n all this bullshit if u want to ...
That's what I was saying earlier. What was the escape plan? How long are you gonna be "on the run" on an island? The hit squad got rug pulled or they just couldn't make it to the LZ (land or sea).
the goal was to get into the DR
Sorta goes to my point. I did say that it would get ugly.
I was more stating that Haiti has tried in the past to attack the DR, and this could lead to them attacking again. If; the DR was directly involved.
The point is rendered moot now since it's come to light that they're Columbian mercs. Most likely hired by Haitians; or it was an over due bill, hence the horrible getaway plan.
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Guaranteed da CIA was involved and another puppet president will be installed. US will intervene under da guise of "help".
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Trump could care less about Hati. This was one of those "shithole countries".
Haiti is a failed state. Drugs, guns and people have been smuggled in and out of that country for years with impunity. President Moise must have fucked up the bag and the wrong people didn't get paid. I don't see the necessity for the American government to remove anyone in this fashion. They have basically been doing as they wish in Haiti for the past century.
The American govt and corporations have been doing what they wished in Haiti for years.
What have America been doing in Haiti?
Two U.S. citizens are among at least 17 suspects arrested in the Moïse killing.
Haitians surrounding a police station Thursday where two suspects were taken.Credit...Jean Marc Herve Abelard/EPA, via Shutterstock
By Anatoly Kurmanaev, Rick Gladstone and Catherine Porter
At least seventeen people, including fifteen Colombians and two American citizens, were detained in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, Haitian officials said Thursday night as they paraded the suspects before the news media and asserted that “foreigners” had been involved in the brazen attack.
At a news conference at National Police Headquarters with the interim prime minister, the American men were described as being of Haitian descent and were identified as Joseph Vincent and James Solages.
Haitian security officials had earlier described Mr. Solages as a resident of South Florida who had been apprehended on Wednesday during the manhunt for the assailants. A Canadian government official said that Mr. Solages was briefly employed as a reserve bodyguard by a security company hired by the foreign affairs ministry in 2010.
At least eight more suspects were on the run, authorities said.
“We are pursuing them. We are asking the public to help us,” said Haiti’s police chief, Léon Charles, before a phalanx of politicians and police.
Colombia’s defense minister, Diego Molano, said the government was cooperating with an official request from Interpol, the global police agency, for information about the detained suspects. He added that initial information suggested that they were retired members of the Colombian military.
The detainees were lined up at the news conference Thursday night in handcuffs, some showing signs of physical injuries. A table displayed at least 10 Colombian passports, along with automatic weapons, sledgehammers and saws.
The country’s interim prime minister Claude Joseph said a group of foreigners had entered the country to kill the president “in a cowardly fashion.”
“They forgot something,” he said. “You may kill the president, but you cannot kill his dreams, you cannot kill his ideology, and you cannot kill what he was fighting for. That’s why I’m determined for President Jovenel Moïse’s family, friends and allies, and the Haitian population, to get justice.”
Angry civilians have also joined in the hunt, capturing some suspects themselves and setting afire vehicles thought to have been used in the attack. Haiti is now basically under martial law after Mr. Joseph declared an “état de siège” — a state of siege — that allows the police and members of security forces to enter homes, control traffic and take special security measures. It also forbids meetings meant to excite or prepare for disorder.
The rapidly evolving crisis deepened the turmoil and violence that has gripped Haiti for months, threatening to tip one of the world’s most troubled nations further into lawlessness. Questions swirled about who might have been behind such a brazen attack and how they eluded the president’s security detail to carry it out.
There were reports of fighting between suspects and security forces throughout the day. Earlier Thursday, Helen La Lime, the top U.N. official in Haiti, told reporters that a group of suspects had “taken refuge in two buildings in the city and are now surrounded by police.” She spoke via teleconference from Port-au-Prince, after briefing the United Nations Security Council on the Haitian crisis in a private meeting. It was unclear if the situation had been resolved.
Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Bocchit Edmond, has described the assailants as “well-trained professionals, killers, commandos.”
The New York Times
On Wednesday, security forces engaged in a chaotic shootout with a group of what they described as suspected assailants, though they offered no evidence linking them to the attack. Officers killed several in the group and took others into custody, authorities said.
Chief Charles said Thursday that five vehicles that might have been used in the attack had been seized and that three of them had been burned by civilians. He said it was impossible for the police to gather evidence from inside the charred vehicles.
Social media was full of reports of civilians parading men with their arms tied behind their backs and men in the back of a police pickup truck.
A large crowd of people gathered in front of the police station in the Pétionville area of Port-au-Prince on Thursday morning, before Chief Charles spoke, some demanding vigilante justice for the suspects they believed to be inside. “Burn them,” some cried.
Carl Henry Destin, a Haitian justice of the peace, said the president’s home had been peppered with holes and littered with bullet casings, and he had found the body of the president lying on the floor at the foot of his bed, “bathed in blood.”
“There were 12 holes visible in the body of the president that I could see,” he told The New York Times. “He was riddled with bullets.”
President Moïse had been dressed in a white shirt and jeans, he said, both of which were torn and covered in blood. Bullet holes perforated his arms, hip, backside and left ear.
There was evidence of different caliber weapons being used, he said.
The president’s house had been ransacked, said Mr. Destin. “Drawers were pulled out, papers were all over the ground, bags were open,” he said. Two servants had been tied up, he said.
The president’s wife, Martine Moïse, was injured in the assault and was rushed by air ambulance to the Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, where Mr. Joseph, the interim prime minister, said she was “out of danger” and in stable condition. Representative Frederica Wilson of Florida said at a news conference in Miami that Ms. Moïse was not the target of the attack and that, according to the U.S. State Department, “she was caught in a crossfire.”
Video
Martine Moïse, wife of the slain President Jovenel Moïse, was rushed to a hospital in Miami on Wednesday following the nighttime raid and attack on their home in Haiti.CreditCredit...Valerie Baeriswyl/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Ms. Wilson said the couple’s three children are in protective custody. Mr. Destin said that two of the children had been present during the attack, and that they had hidden together in a bathroom.
Andre Paulte and Harold Isaac contributed.
Haitians surrounding a police station Thursday where two suspects were taken.Credit...Jean Marc Herve Abelard/EPA, via Shutterstock
By Anatoly Kurmanaev, Rick Gladstone and Catherine Porter
- July 8, 2021
At least seventeen people, including fifteen Colombians and two American citizens, were detained in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, Haitian officials said Thursday night as they paraded the suspects before the news media and asserted that “foreigners” had been involved in the brazen attack.
At a news conference at National Police Headquarters with the interim prime minister, the American men were described as being of Haitian descent and were identified as Joseph Vincent and James Solages.
Haitian security officials had earlier described Mr. Solages as a resident of South Florida who had been apprehended on Wednesday during the manhunt for the assailants. A Canadian government official said that Mr. Solages was briefly employed as a reserve bodyguard by a security company hired by the foreign affairs ministry in 2010.
At least eight more suspects were on the run, authorities said.
“We are pursuing them. We are asking the public to help us,” said Haiti’s police chief, Léon Charles, before a phalanx of politicians and police.
Colombia’s defense minister, Diego Molano, said the government was cooperating with an official request from Interpol, the global police agency, for information about the detained suspects. He added that initial information suggested that they were retired members of the Colombian military.
The detainees were lined up at the news conference Thursday night in handcuffs, some showing signs of physical injuries. A table displayed at least 10 Colombian passports, along with automatic weapons, sledgehammers and saws.
The country’s interim prime minister Claude Joseph said a group of foreigners had entered the country to kill the president “in a cowardly fashion.”
“They forgot something,” he said. “You may kill the president, but you cannot kill his dreams, you cannot kill his ideology, and you cannot kill what he was fighting for. That’s why I’m determined for President Jovenel Moïse’s family, friends and allies, and the Haitian population, to get justice.”
Angry civilians have also joined in the hunt, capturing some suspects themselves and setting afire vehicles thought to have been used in the attack. Haiti is now basically under martial law after Mr. Joseph declared an “état de siège” — a state of siege — that allows the police and members of security forces to enter homes, control traffic and take special security measures. It also forbids meetings meant to excite or prepare for disorder.
The rapidly evolving crisis deepened the turmoil and violence that has gripped Haiti for months, threatening to tip one of the world’s most troubled nations further into lawlessness. Questions swirled about who might have been behind such a brazen attack and how they eluded the president’s security detail to carry it out.
There were reports of fighting between suspects and security forces throughout the day. Earlier Thursday, Helen La Lime, the top U.N. official in Haiti, told reporters that a group of suspects had “taken refuge in two buildings in the city and are now surrounded by police.” She spoke via teleconference from Port-au-Prince, after briefing the United Nations Security Council on the Haitian crisis in a private meeting. It was unclear if the situation had been resolved.
Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Bocchit Edmond, has described the assailants as “well-trained professionals, killers, commandos.”
The New York Times
On Wednesday, security forces engaged in a chaotic shootout with a group of what they described as suspected assailants, though they offered no evidence linking them to the attack. Officers killed several in the group and took others into custody, authorities said.
Chief Charles said Thursday that five vehicles that might have been used in the attack had been seized and that three of them had been burned by civilians. He said it was impossible for the police to gather evidence from inside the charred vehicles.
Social media was full of reports of civilians parading men with their arms tied behind their backs and men in the back of a police pickup truck.
A large crowd of people gathered in front of the police station in the Pétionville area of Port-au-Prince on Thursday morning, before Chief Charles spoke, some demanding vigilante justice for the suspects they believed to be inside. “Burn them,” some cried.
Carl Henry Destin, a Haitian justice of the peace, said the president’s home had been peppered with holes and littered with bullet casings, and he had found the body of the president lying on the floor at the foot of his bed, “bathed in blood.”
“There were 12 holes visible in the body of the president that I could see,” he told The New York Times. “He was riddled with bullets.”
President Moïse had been dressed in a white shirt and jeans, he said, both of which were torn and covered in blood. Bullet holes perforated his arms, hip, backside and left ear.
There was evidence of different caliber weapons being used, he said.
The president’s house had been ransacked, said Mr. Destin. “Drawers were pulled out, papers were all over the ground, bags were open,” he said. Two servants had been tied up, he said.
The president’s wife, Martine Moïse, was injured in the assault and was rushed by air ambulance to the Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, where Mr. Joseph, the interim prime minister, said she was “out of danger” and in stable condition. Representative Frederica Wilson of Florida said at a news conference in Miami that Ms. Moïse was not the target of the attack and that, according to the U.S. State Department, “she was caught in a crossfire.”
Video
Martine Moïse, wife of the slain President Jovenel Moïse, was rushed to a hospital in Miami on Wednesday following the nighttime raid and attack on their home in Haiti.CreditCredit...Valerie Baeriswyl/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Ms. Wilson said the couple’s three children are in protective custody. Mr. Destin said that two of the children had been present during the attack, and that they had hidden together in a bathroom.
Andre Paulte and Harold Isaac contributed.
The president was engaged in a sweeping effort to overhaul the country’s Constitution.
Haitians took to the streets of Port-au-Prince in March to protest the new Constitution promoted by Jovenel Moïse.Credit...Jean Marc Herve Abelard/EPA, via Shutterstock
By Marc Santora and Catherine Porter
Despite public unrest and fragile political support, in the months before President Jovenel Moïse was killed he was pursuing an aggressive agenda that included rewriting the country’s Constitution.
Among the provisions he was pushing for was one that would grant Haiti’s leader immunity for any actions while in office, leading critics to charge that he presented a threat to democracy and was setting the country on a course toward authoritarian rule.
“We need a system that works,” Mr. Moïse said in a telephone interview with The New York Times in March. “The system now doesn’t work. The president cannot work to deliver.”
The United States, whose support is critical for Haiti, had called on the country to hold presidential and legislative elections as soon as technically feasible. It also opposed the effort to draft a new constitution along the lines Mr. Moïse proposed.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined the Biden administration’s tougher stance during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in June.
Even though many were critical of Mr. Moïse’s approach to reshape the government, many Haitians say a new Constitution is needed.
The current one has created two competing power centers in the country — the president and prime minister — which often leads to friction and a fractured government.
The draft Constitution would have abolished the Senate, leaving in place a single legislative body elected every five years, and replace the post of prime minister with a vice president who answers to the president, in a bid to streamline government.
Haitians took to the streets of Port-au-Prince in March to protest the new Constitution promoted by Jovenel Moïse.Credit...Jean Marc Herve Abelard/EPA, via Shutterstock
By Marc Santora and Catherine Porter
- July 7, 2021
Despite public unrest and fragile political support, in the months before President Jovenel Moïse was killed he was pursuing an aggressive agenda that included rewriting the country’s Constitution.
Among the provisions he was pushing for was one that would grant Haiti’s leader immunity for any actions while in office, leading critics to charge that he presented a threat to democracy and was setting the country on a course toward authoritarian rule.
“We need a system that works,” Mr. Moïse said in a telephone interview with The New York Times in March. “The system now doesn’t work. The president cannot work to deliver.”
The United States, whose support is critical for Haiti, had called on the country to hold presidential and legislative elections as soon as technically feasible. It also opposed the effort to draft a new constitution along the lines Mr. Moïse proposed.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined the Biden administration’s tougher stance during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in June.
Even though many were critical of Mr. Moïse’s approach to reshape the government, many Haitians say a new Constitution is needed.
The current one has created two competing power centers in the country — the president and prime minister — which often leads to friction and a fractured government.
The draft Constitution would have abolished the Senate, leaving in place a single legislative body elected every five years, and replace the post of prime minister with a vice president who answers to the president, in a bid to streamline government.
Haiti’s President Assassinated in Nighttime Raid, Shaking a Fragile Nation
A group of assailants stormed Mr. Moïse’s residence early on Wednesday, shooting him and wounding his wife. The interim prime minister declared a “state of siege.”
President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti was killed in an attack at his private residence on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince.CreditCredit...Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters
By Catherine Porter, Michael Crowley and Constant Méheut
Published July 7, 2021Updated July 8, 2021
The first explosions rang out after 1 a.m., shattering the calm in the neighborhood that was home to President Jovenel Moïse and many of Haiti’s most affluent citizens.
Residents immediately feared two of the terrors that have plagued the nation — gang violence or an earthquake — but by dawn, a much different reality had emerged: The president was dead.
A group of assailants had stormed Mr. Moïse’s residence on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, early on Wednesday, shooting him and wounding his wife, Martine Moïse, in what officials called a well-planned operation that included “foreigners” who spoke Spanish.
The New York Times
In a televised broadcast to the nation, the nation’s interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, appealed for calm and presented himself as the new head of the government, announcing that he and his fellow ministers had declared a “state of siege” and placed Haiti under a form of martial law.
The assassination left a political void that deepened the turmoil and violence that has gripped Haiti for months, threatening to tip one of the world’s most troubled nations further into lawlessness.
While the details of who shot the president and why remained unknown, four people suspected of being involved in the assassination were killed by the police in a gun battle and two others were arrested, Haiti’s police chief said late Wednesday. The chief, Léon Charles, also said that three police officers who had been held hostage were freed.
“The police are engaged in a battle with the assailants,” he said at a news conference, noting that the authorities were still chasing some suspects. “We are pursuing them so that, in a gunfight, they meet their fate or in gunfight they die, or we apprehend them.”
The authorities did not name any of the suspects or cite any evidence linking them to the assassination.
Image
The main street into Petion-Ville was blocked by military personnel on Wednesday.Credit...Valerie Baeriswyl/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
In recent months, protesters had taken to the streets to demand Mr. Moïse step down in February, five years after his election, at what they deemed was the end of his term.
Armed gangs have taken greater control of the streets, terrorizing poor neighborhoods and sending thousands fleeing, kidnapping even schoolchildren and church pastors in the middle of their services. Poverty and hunger are rising, with many accusing members of the government of enriching themselves while not providing the population with even the most basic services.
In an interview, Mr. Joseph told The New York Times that he was now in control of the country, but it was unclear how much legitimacy he had, or how long it might last. A new prime minister had been scheduled to replace Mr. Joseph this week — he would have been the sixth to hold the job in Mr. Moïse’s term. The head of the nation’s highest court, who might have helped establish order, died of Covid-19 in June.
“We are in total confusion,” said Jacky Lumarque, rector of Quisqueya University, a large private university in Port-au-Prince. “We have two prime ministers. We can’t say which is more legitimate than the other.”
Image
Claude Joseph, the nation’s interim prime minister, said he is now in charge of the government.Credit...Orlando Barria/EPA, via Shutterstock
“This is the first time where we’ve seen that the state is so weak,” he added.
Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Bocchit Edmond, said at a news conference that the killing of the country’s president had been carried out “by well-trained professionals, killers, commandos.”
He said that the attackers had presented themselves as agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, but that they were “fake D.E.A.” and “professional killers.” He said he was basing his assessment on security camera footage of the attack.
Mr. Moïse’s wife survived and was “stable, but in critical condition,” Mr. Edmond said. She was transported to Miami for treatment, arriving there Wednesday evening.
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Military personnel guard the hospital where the first lady was taken after the attack on Wednesday.Credit...Valerie Baeriswyl/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
President Biden said Wednesday that he was “shocked and saddened” by the assassination and the shooting of the president’s wife. “We condemn this heinous act,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Mr. Joseph, offering condolences, the State Department said.
Mr. Moïse had held on to the office, arguing he had only occupied the position for four years of the five-year term. In the first year after he was elected, an interim president took over as the country investigated allegations of fraud. Many Haitians — including constitutional scholars and legal experts — contended that his five-year term started when he was elected, and has since expired. But the United States and the Organization of American States backed Mr. Moïse.
While the United States and other nations have long supplied Haiti with much-needed aid and financial assistance, including help in recovering from a devastating earthquake in 2010, Western powers have also exerted an overwhelming influence over the country’s political destiny. The United States occupied the country from 1915 to 1934, and a series of coups in the 20th and 21st centuries were backed by Western powers.
France, in particular, has had a long and difficult relationship with Haiti. More than two centuries ago, Haitians fought to throw off the yoke of colonial France and to bring an end to one of the world’s most brutal slave colonies, which had brought France great wealth.
What started as an uprising by enslaved people at the turn of the 18th century eventually led to the stunning defeat of Napoleon’s forces in 1803. While many in Haiti’s professional class study in France, others harbor anti-French sentiment. The first visit by a French president was not until 2010.
France’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said in a statement that he was “shocked” by Mr. Moïse’s killing. “All light must be shed on this crime, which comes amid a very deteriorated political and security climate,” Mr. Le Drian said. He urged “all of the actors of Haitian political life” to observe “calm and restraint.”
Within Haiti, experts warned, the political vacuum left by Mr. Moïse’s killing could fuel a renewed cycle of violence. As the population struggled to assess the situation, the normally clogged streets of the capital remained ominously empty.
Banks and stores were shuttered; university classrooms vacant; the ti machann — or market women — who normally line the shoulders of roads selling their wares were conspicuously absent.
Image
The streets of Port-au-Prince were largely deserted on Wednesday.Credit...Valerie Baeriswyl/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Lines formed as some people tried to stock up on water — which is normally bought by the container in poorer areas — in case they end up hunkered down for a long time. Many others huddled at home, calling friends and family to check their safety and to ask for updates. In some middle-class neighborhoods, people gathered on the sidewalks, sharing their fears for the country’s future.
“Things are hard and ugly now,” said Jenny Joseph, a university student from the suburb of Carrefour. “For the next few days, things will be crazy in Haiti.”
Under the martial law declaration, the police and security members can enter homes, control traffic and take special security measures and “all general measures that permit the arrest of the assassins” for 15 days. The decree also forbids meetings meant to incite disorder.
However, it is unclear whether Mr. Joseph has the authority to do this, or even the authority to run the country in the wake of President Moïse’s death. The country has two constitutions, neither of which tap the interim prime minister to take over. The first one, published in 1987, says the country’s most senior judge should step in. In 2012, however, it was amended to say that if there’s a vacancy in the last year of a president’s term, the Parliament should vote for a provisional president.
Unfortunately, the Constitution was amended in one of the country’s official languages, French, but not in the other, Creole. So as it stands, the country has two constitutions.
“It’s a very grave situation,” said Georges Michel, a Haitian historian who helped write the 1987 Constitution.
At the moment, Haiti has no functioning Parliament. Mr. Moïse’s government did not call elections, even after the terms of the entire lower house expired more than a year ago. Only 10 of Haiti’s 30 senate seats are currently filled.
Mr. Moïse had been struggling to quell growing public anger over remaining in power.
After Mr. Moïse did not leave office in February, when many in the opposition deemed his term over, thousands of Haitians took to the streets in large marches, demanding his resignation. The government responded by arresting 23 people, including a top judge and a senior police officer, who the president said had tried to kill him and overthrow the government.
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Thousands of protesters rallied in the streets of Port-au-Prince in 2019 to call for Mr. Moïse’s resignation.Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York Times
Mr. Moïse counted on a high level of protection, traveling regularly with more than a dozen armored cars and police guards. There are often 100 officers from the presidential guard around the president’s home, said former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.
There had been no specific warning of the overnight attack, said the ambassador, Mr. Edmond.
It was not clear whether any of the suspected assassins who had not been killed or arrested in the gun battle with the police were still in Haiti. Because the country’s airport was closed down on Wednesday, some might have slipped across the border to the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, or escaped by sea.
Mr. Edmond said he has been in touch with the White House, the State Department and the American ambassador to Haiti, and has called on the United States for help.
The support, he said, would help “to make sure Haiti doesn’t go even deeper into a spiral of violence,” and specifically, “to make sure that the Haitian police have the necessary means to put the situation under control.”
Because of its chronic instability, Haiti has a large diaspora, with some of the largest communities based in the United States, Canada, France and the Dominican Republic. Generally politically divided, Haitians abroad followed the news of Mr. Moïse’s killing united by their shock and despair, said Leonie Hermantin, a Haitian community leader in Miami.
“Even for those of us who weren’t necessarily in support of him, this is not what we had envisioned as an outcome of regime change,” she said.
“The diaspora is united in its sadness,” she added. “There’s no one celebrating.”
A group of assailants stormed Mr. Moïse’s residence early on Wednesday, shooting him and wounding his wife. The interim prime minister declared a “state of siege.”
President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti was killed in an attack at his private residence on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince.CreditCredit...Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters
By Catherine Porter, Michael Crowley and Constant Méheut
Published July 7, 2021Updated July 8, 2021
The first explosions rang out after 1 a.m., shattering the calm in the neighborhood that was home to President Jovenel Moïse and many of Haiti’s most affluent citizens.
Residents immediately feared two of the terrors that have plagued the nation — gang violence or an earthquake — but by dawn, a much different reality had emerged: The president was dead.
A group of assailants had stormed Mr. Moïse’s residence on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, early on Wednesday, shooting him and wounding his wife, Martine Moïse, in what officials called a well-planned operation that included “foreigners” who spoke Spanish.
The New York Times
In a televised broadcast to the nation, the nation’s interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, appealed for calm and presented himself as the new head of the government, announcing that he and his fellow ministers had declared a “state of siege” and placed Haiti under a form of martial law.
The assassination left a political void that deepened the turmoil and violence that has gripped Haiti for months, threatening to tip one of the world’s most troubled nations further into lawlessness.
While the details of who shot the president and why remained unknown, four people suspected of being involved in the assassination were killed by the police in a gun battle and two others were arrested, Haiti’s police chief said late Wednesday. The chief, Léon Charles, also said that three police officers who had been held hostage were freed.
“The police are engaged in a battle with the assailants,” he said at a news conference, noting that the authorities were still chasing some suspects. “We are pursuing them so that, in a gunfight, they meet their fate or in gunfight they die, or we apprehend them.”
The authorities did not name any of the suspects or cite any evidence linking them to the assassination.
Image
The main street into Petion-Ville was blocked by military personnel on Wednesday.Credit...Valerie Baeriswyl/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
In recent months, protesters had taken to the streets to demand Mr. Moïse step down in February, five years after his election, at what they deemed was the end of his term.
Armed gangs have taken greater control of the streets, terrorizing poor neighborhoods and sending thousands fleeing, kidnapping even schoolchildren and church pastors in the middle of their services. Poverty and hunger are rising, with many accusing members of the government of enriching themselves while not providing the population with even the most basic services.
In an interview, Mr. Joseph told The New York Times that he was now in control of the country, but it was unclear how much legitimacy he had, or how long it might last. A new prime minister had been scheduled to replace Mr. Joseph this week — he would have been the sixth to hold the job in Mr. Moïse’s term. The head of the nation’s highest court, who might have helped establish order, died of Covid-19 in June.
“We are in total confusion,” said Jacky Lumarque, rector of Quisqueya University, a large private university in Port-au-Prince. “We have two prime ministers. We can’t say which is more legitimate than the other.”
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Claude Joseph, the nation’s interim prime minister, said he is now in charge of the government.Credit...Orlando Barria/EPA, via Shutterstock
“This is the first time where we’ve seen that the state is so weak,” he added.
Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Bocchit Edmond, said at a news conference that the killing of the country’s president had been carried out “by well-trained professionals, killers, commandos.”
He said that the attackers had presented themselves as agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, but that they were “fake D.E.A.” and “professional killers.” He said he was basing his assessment on security camera footage of the attack.
Mr. Moïse’s wife survived and was “stable, but in critical condition,” Mr. Edmond said. She was transported to Miami for treatment, arriving there Wednesday evening.
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Military personnel guard the hospital where the first lady was taken after the attack on Wednesday.Credit...Valerie Baeriswyl/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
President Biden said Wednesday that he was “shocked and saddened” by the assassination and the shooting of the president’s wife. “We condemn this heinous act,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Mr. Joseph, offering condolences, the State Department said.
Mr. Moïse had held on to the office, arguing he had only occupied the position for four years of the five-year term. In the first year after he was elected, an interim president took over as the country investigated allegations of fraud. Many Haitians — including constitutional scholars and legal experts — contended that his five-year term started when he was elected, and has since expired. But the United States and the Organization of American States backed Mr. Moïse.
While the United States and other nations have long supplied Haiti with much-needed aid and financial assistance, including help in recovering from a devastating earthquake in 2010, Western powers have also exerted an overwhelming influence over the country’s political destiny. The United States occupied the country from 1915 to 1934, and a series of coups in the 20th and 21st centuries were backed by Western powers.
France, in particular, has had a long and difficult relationship with Haiti. More than two centuries ago, Haitians fought to throw off the yoke of colonial France and to bring an end to one of the world’s most brutal slave colonies, which had brought France great wealth.
What started as an uprising by enslaved people at the turn of the 18th century eventually led to the stunning defeat of Napoleon’s forces in 1803. While many in Haiti’s professional class study in France, others harbor anti-French sentiment. The first visit by a French president was not until 2010.
France’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said in a statement that he was “shocked” by Mr. Moïse’s killing. “All light must be shed on this crime, which comes amid a very deteriorated political and security climate,” Mr. Le Drian said. He urged “all of the actors of Haitian political life” to observe “calm and restraint.”
Within Haiti, experts warned, the political vacuum left by Mr. Moïse’s killing could fuel a renewed cycle of violence. As the population struggled to assess the situation, the normally clogged streets of the capital remained ominously empty.
Banks and stores were shuttered; university classrooms vacant; the ti machann — or market women — who normally line the shoulders of roads selling their wares were conspicuously absent.
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The streets of Port-au-Prince were largely deserted on Wednesday.Credit...Valerie Baeriswyl/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Lines formed as some people tried to stock up on water — which is normally bought by the container in poorer areas — in case they end up hunkered down for a long time. Many others huddled at home, calling friends and family to check their safety and to ask for updates. In some middle-class neighborhoods, people gathered on the sidewalks, sharing their fears for the country’s future.
“Things are hard and ugly now,” said Jenny Joseph, a university student from the suburb of Carrefour. “For the next few days, things will be crazy in Haiti.”
Under the martial law declaration, the police and security members can enter homes, control traffic and take special security measures and “all general measures that permit the arrest of the assassins” for 15 days. The decree also forbids meetings meant to incite disorder.
However, it is unclear whether Mr. Joseph has the authority to do this, or even the authority to run the country in the wake of President Moïse’s death. The country has two constitutions, neither of which tap the interim prime minister to take over. The first one, published in 1987, says the country’s most senior judge should step in. In 2012, however, it was amended to say that if there’s a vacancy in the last year of a president’s term, the Parliament should vote for a provisional president.
Unfortunately, the Constitution was amended in one of the country’s official languages, French, but not in the other, Creole. So as it stands, the country has two constitutions.
“It’s a very grave situation,” said Georges Michel, a Haitian historian who helped write the 1987 Constitution.
At the moment, Haiti has no functioning Parliament. Mr. Moïse’s government did not call elections, even after the terms of the entire lower house expired more than a year ago. Only 10 of Haiti’s 30 senate seats are currently filled.
Mr. Moïse had been struggling to quell growing public anger over remaining in power.
After Mr. Moïse did not leave office in February, when many in the opposition deemed his term over, thousands of Haitians took to the streets in large marches, demanding his resignation. The government responded by arresting 23 people, including a top judge and a senior police officer, who the president said had tried to kill him and overthrow the government.
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Thousands of protesters rallied in the streets of Port-au-Prince in 2019 to call for Mr. Moïse’s resignation.Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York Times
Mr. Moïse counted on a high level of protection, traveling regularly with more than a dozen armored cars and police guards. There are often 100 officers from the presidential guard around the president’s home, said former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.
There had been no specific warning of the overnight attack, said the ambassador, Mr. Edmond.
It was not clear whether any of the suspected assassins who had not been killed or arrested in the gun battle with the police were still in Haiti. Because the country’s airport was closed down on Wednesday, some might have slipped across the border to the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, or escaped by sea.
Mr. Edmond said he has been in touch with the White House, the State Department and the American ambassador to Haiti, and has called on the United States for help.
The support, he said, would help “to make sure Haiti doesn’t go even deeper into a spiral of violence,” and specifically, “to make sure that the Haitian police have the necessary means to put the situation under control.”
Because of its chronic instability, Haiti has a large diaspora, with some of the largest communities based in the United States, Canada, France and the Dominican Republic. Generally politically divided, Haitians abroad followed the news of Mr. Moïse’s killing united by their shock and despair, said Leonie Hermantin, a Haitian community leader in Miami.
“Even for those of us who weren’t necessarily in support of him, this is not what we had envisioned as an outcome of regime change,” she said.
“The diaspora is united in its sadness,” she added. “There’s no one celebrating.”
How the Assassination of Haiti’s President Follows Years of Strife and Gridlock
The country freed by slaves from French colonial overlords more than 200 years ago has struggled with a legacy of corruption, violence and political paralysis.
Burning barricades on a street in Port-au-Prince during Flag Day celebrations in May.Credit...Jean Marc Herve Abelard/EPA, via Shutterstock
By Natalie Kitroeff and Anatoly Kurmanaev
Published July 7, 2021Updated July 8, 2021
阅读简体中文版閱讀繁體中文版Leer en español
The assassination of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti in a brazen attack at his private residence on Wednesday compounded the Caribbean nation’s turmoil and deepened fears of more widespread political violence.
The interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, said the president had been “cowardly assassinated,” called on the country to “stay calm,” and sought to reassure Haitians and the world that the police and army were controlling the situation.
But Mr. Joseph’s words did little to blunt concerns of possible chaos.
“There is no more Parliament, the Senate is missing for a long time, there’s no president of the Court of Cassation,” said Didier Le Bret, a former French ambassador to Haiti, adding of Mr. Joseph: “Everything will rest on him.”
A history of political violence.
Image
Haitians holding pictures of Jean-Claude Duvalier and his father, Francois, who led the country for two decades, in Port-au-Prince in 2013.Credit...Dieu Nalio Chery/Associated Press
The assassination of Mr. Moïse is the culmination of years of instability in the country, which has long been seized by lawlessness and violence. Haiti, once a slave colony notorious for the brutality of its masters, won independence from France after slaves revolted and defeated Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces in 1803. But in the two centuries since, Haiti has struggled to emerge from cycles of dictatorships and coups that have kept the country impoverished and struggling to deliver basic services to many of its people.
For nearly three decades, the country suffered under the dictatorship of François Duvalier, known as Papa Doc, and then his son, Jean-Claude, known as Baby Doc. A priest from a poor area, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, became the first democratically elected president in 1990. But in less than a year, he was deposed in a coup, then returned to power in 1994 with the help of thousands of American troops.
Mr. Aristide was re-elected in 2000, but forced out again after another armed uprising and went into exile. He has called it a “kidnapping” orchestrated by international actors, including the American and French governments.
Earthquake, cholera, corruption.
Image
The cathedral in Port-au-Prince in February was severely damaged in the 2010 earthquake.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
When a devastating earthquake flattened much of the country in 2010, the disaster was seen as an opportunity to resuscitate battered infrastructure and start fresh, by shoring up the government’s own capacity to rebuild. More than $9 billion in humanitarian assistance and donations poured in, buttressed by an additional estimated $2 billion-worth of cheap oil supplies and loans from the then-powerful ally Venezuela. International aid organizations rushed to help manage the recovery.
But the money did not set Haiti on a new path — and many experts believe the country is worse off since the reconstruction began. A cholera outbreak soon after the quake that killed at least 10,000 Haitians was linked to the arrival of infected peacekeepers from the United Nations, which only admitted involvement years later but denied legal responsibility, shielded by international treaties granting the organization diplomatic immunity.
Michel Martelly, a one-time popular singer who became president in 2011, was accused of widespread corruption and mismanaging funds intended for reconstruction.
Reports by Haitian court-appointed auditors revealed in lengthy detail that much of the $2 billion lent to the country by Venezuela was embezzled or wasted over eight years. Before he entered politics, President Moïse, then a little-known fruit exporter, was implicated in one of the reports for his involvement in a scheme to siphon off funds intended for road repairs.
Fed-up Haitians take to the streets.
Image
Protestors demonstrating against Mr. Moïse in Les Cayes, Haiti, in 2019.Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York Times
In the years that followed, persistent economic malaise, rising crime and corruption led to protests by Haitians fed up with their government and demanding Mr. Martelly’s resignation. But he held onto power and after one term tapped Mr. Moïse to succeed him in 2015 elections.
Mr. Moïse’s bid for power was marred from the beginning. His campaign was accused of fraud and corruption and he took power 14 months after voters went to the polls, after an electoral tribunal found no evidence of widespread electoral irregularities. He took office in 2017 facing an indictment for graft related to Venezuelan aid.
Over the next several years, Mr. Moïse used his control of the judicial system to dismiss the charges and undermine the opposition, which never accepted his electoral victory. The result was an increasingly paralyzed government that became gridlocked completely in early 2020, just as the country faced the coronavirus pandemic.
A leadership crisis, power vacuum, and Covid-19.
Image
Mr. Moïse outside his home in Petion-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, last year. Credit...Dieu Nalio Chery/Associated Press
A disagreement between Mr. Moïse and the opposition about the start of his presidential term spiraled into a full political crisis, leaving the country without a parliament or a new election date. As the crisis dragged on, Mr. Moïse began governing by unpopular decrees, further undermining his government’s legitimacy. Protests against his rule accelerated.
The political gridlock severely undermined the country’s already weak health care system as coronavirus cases spread. Haiti remains the only country in Western Hemisphere to not receive any Covid-19 vaccines as it now struggles to deal with the latest spike in infections. Although official coronavirus deaths remain relatively low because of limited testing, aid workers have said the hospitals are overwhelmed.
Criminal gangs and a reign of terror.
Image
Jimmy Cherizier, center left, in the red shirt, who is known as “Barbecue,” walking through a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince in 2019.Credit...Dieu Nalio Chery/Associated Press
Haiti’s power vacuum has been increasingly filled with the leaders of organized crime, who have taken over parts of the capital over the past year, instilling a reign of terror. Kidnappings, lootings and gang-associated violence have made parts of the country ungovernable, leaving many Haitians fearful to even leave their homes and forcing some aid organizations, on which many in the country depend for survival, to curtail activities.
Rights organizations have linked a surge in gang violence to the country’s political deadlock, accusing prominent politicians of working with organized crime to intimidate opponents and settle scores in the absence of a functioning government.
Last month, one of Haiti’s most prominent gang leaders publicly declared a war against the country’s traditional elites, calling on citizens to raid established businesses.
“It is your money which is in banks, stores, supermarkets and dealerships,” the gang leader, Jimmy Cherizier, better known by his alias Barbecue, said in a video message on social media. “Go and get what is rightfully yours.”
The country freed by slaves from French colonial overlords more than 200 years ago has struggled with a legacy of corruption, violence and political paralysis.
Burning barricades on a street in Port-au-Prince during Flag Day celebrations in May.Credit...Jean Marc Herve Abelard/EPA, via Shutterstock
By Natalie Kitroeff and Anatoly Kurmanaev
Published July 7, 2021Updated July 8, 2021
阅读简体中文版閱讀繁體中文版Leer en español
The assassination of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti in a brazen attack at his private residence on Wednesday compounded the Caribbean nation’s turmoil and deepened fears of more widespread political violence.
The interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, said the president had been “cowardly assassinated,” called on the country to “stay calm,” and sought to reassure Haitians and the world that the police and army were controlling the situation.
But Mr. Joseph’s words did little to blunt concerns of possible chaos.
“There is no more Parliament, the Senate is missing for a long time, there’s no president of the Court of Cassation,” said Didier Le Bret, a former French ambassador to Haiti, adding of Mr. Joseph: “Everything will rest on him.”
A history of political violence.
Image
Haitians holding pictures of Jean-Claude Duvalier and his father, Francois, who led the country for two decades, in Port-au-Prince in 2013.Credit...Dieu Nalio Chery/Associated Press
The assassination of Mr. Moïse is the culmination of years of instability in the country, which has long been seized by lawlessness and violence. Haiti, once a slave colony notorious for the brutality of its masters, won independence from France after slaves revolted and defeated Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces in 1803. But in the two centuries since, Haiti has struggled to emerge from cycles of dictatorships and coups that have kept the country impoverished and struggling to deliver basic services to many of its people.
For nearly three decades, the country suffered under the dictatorship of François Duvalier, known as Papa Doc, and then his son, Jean-Claude, known as Baby Doc. A priest from a poor area, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, became the first democratically elected president in 1990. But in less than a year, he was deposed in a coup, then returned to power in 1994 with the help of thousands of American troops.
Mr. Aristide was re-elected in 2000, but forced out again after another armed uprising and went into exile. He has called it a “kidnapping” orchestrated by international actors, including the American and French governments.
Earthquake, cholera, corruption.
Image
The cathedral in Port-au-Prince in February was severely damaged in the 2010 earthquake.Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
When a devastating earthquake flattened much of the country in 2010, the disaster was seen as an opportunity to resuscitate battered infrastructure and start fresh, by shoring up the government’s own capacity to rebuild. More than $9 billion in humanitarian assistance and donations poured in, buttressed by an additional estimated $2 billion-worth of cheap oil supplies and loans from the then-powerful ally Venezuela. International aid organizations rushed to help manage the recovery.
But the money did not set Haiti on a new path — and many experts believe the country is worse off since the reconstruction began. A cholera outbreak soon after the quake that killed at least 10,000 Haitians was linked to the arrival of infected peacekeepers from the United Nations, which only admitted involvement years later but denied legal responsibility, shielded by international treaties granting the organization diplomatic immunity.
Michel Martelly, a one-time popular singer who became president in 2011, was accused of widespread corruption and mismanaging funds intended for reconstruction.
Reports by Haitian court-appointed auditors revealed in lengthy detail that much of the $2 billion lent to the country by Venezuela was embezzled or wasted over eight years. Before he entered politics, President Moïse, then a little-known fruit exporter, was implicated in one of the reports for his involvement in a scheme to siphon off funds intended for road repairs.
Fed-up Haitians take to the streets.
Image
Protestors demonstrating against Mr. Moïse in Les Cayes, Haiti, in 2019.Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York Times
In the years that followed, persistent economic malaise, rising crime and corruption led to protests by Haitians fed up with their government and demanding Mr. Martelly’s resignation. But he held onto power and after one term tapped Mr. Moïse to succeed him in 2015 elections.
Mr. Moïse’s bid for power was marred from the beginning. His campaign was accused of fraud and corruption and he took power 14 months after voters went to the polls, after an electoral tribunal found no evidence of widespread electoral irregularities. He took office in 2017 facing an indictment for graft related to Venezuelan aid.
Over the next several years, Mr. Moïse used his control of the judicial system to dismiss the charges and undermine the opposition, which never accepted his electoral victory. The result was an increasingly paralyzed government that became gridlocked completely in early 2020, just as the country faced the coronavirus pandemic.
A leadership crisis, power vacuum, and Covid-19.
Image
Mr. Moïse outside his home in Petion-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, last year. Credit...Dieu Nalio Chery/Associated Press
A disagreement between Mr. Moïse and the opposition about the start of his presidential term spiraled into a full political crisis, leaving the country without a parliament or a new election date. As the crisis dragged on, Mr. Moïse began governing by unpopular decrees, further undermining his government’s legitimacy. Protests against his rule accelerated.
The political gridlock severely undermined the country’s already weak health care system as coronavirus cases spread. Haiti remains the only country in Western Hemisphere to not receive any Covid-19 vaccines as it now struggles to deal with the latest spike in infections. Although official coronavirus deaths remain relatively low because of limited testing, aid workers have said the hospitals are overwhelmed.
Criminal gangs and a reign of terror.
Image
Jimmy Cherizier, center left, in the red shirt, who is known as “Barbecue,” walking through a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince in 2019.Credit...Dieu Nalio Chery/Associated Press
Haiti’s power vacuum has been increasingly filled with the leaders of organized crime, who have taken over parts of the capital over the past year, instilling a reign of terror. Kidnappings, lootings and gang-associated violence have made parts of the country ungovernable, leaving many Haitians fearful to even leave their homes and forcing some aid organizations, on which many in the country depend for survival, to curtail activities.
Rights organizations have linked a surge in gang violence to the country’s political deadlock, accusing prominent politicians of working with organized crime to intimidate opponents and settle scores in the absence of a functioning government.
Last month, one of Haiti’s most prominent gang leaders publicly declared a war against the country’s traditional elites, calling on citizens to raid established businesses.
“It is your money which is in banks, stores, supermarkets and dealerships,” the gang leader, Jimmy Cherizier, better known by his alias Barbecue, said in a video message on social media. “Go and get what is rightfully yours.”
Have you not read this entire thread?
Haiti President Assassination: Colombia Says 13 of Its Ex-Soldiers Are Among Suspects in Haiti (Published 2021)
Haitian officials took the extraordinary step of requesting that the United States send in troops to protect the country’s infrastructure. Fears grew that the fragile country may descend further into turmoil.
All this shit sounds like a modern day BAY OF PIGS......
Dumbasses
Dumbasses
Haiti President Assassination: Colombia Says 13 of Its Ex-Soldiers Are Among Suspects in Haiti (Published 2021)
Haitian officials took the extraordinary step of requesting that the United States send in troops to protect the country’s infrastructure. Fears grew that the fragile country may descend further into turmoil.www.nytimes.com
Allegedly this was a setup & the mercs are taking the blame. This is some Strike Back on Cinemax level drama