Haitian President Jovenel Moise was killed Wednesday in a middle-of-the-night attack on his residence near the capital Port-au-Prince, throwing the poorest country in the Americas into turmoil after months of escalating political tensions.
A group of unidentified people, some speaking Spanish and English, attacked the home around 1 am (0500 GMT), a statement from interim prime minister Claude Joseph said, adding the president’s wife, Martine Moise, was receiving treatment after being shot.
Haiti’s Embassy in Washington released a statement in which it described Moise’s killing as a “well-coordinated attack by a highly trained and heavily armed group.”
The embassy called the 53-year-old president, who critics derided as an autocrat, a “true statesman … dedicated to progressing our country’s democratic transition and fighting corruption.” It said he had “died in defence of democracy.”
Videos purportedly taken around the presidential residence in the affluent suburb of Petion-Ville went viral on social media.
Local media reported that assailants had posed as officers of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). In one grainy video posted online, an attacker can be heard shouting: “This is a DEA operation!”
According to media reports, the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, closed its border with the neighbouring country.
Joseph condemned the assassination as a “hateful, inhumane and barbaric act” but neither he nor the embassy offered further details on how the crime unfolded, the assailants or the possible motive.
Joseph said security forces had the situation under control and appealed to Haitians to remain calm. “Democracy and the republic will win,” he said.
Haiti has been mired in a deep political crisis for years, with protests against Moise’s rule repeatedly paralysing country.
He has sown deep mistrust among the public amid accusations of corruption, links to violent gangs and anti-democratic measures.
Moise became president in 2017.
The opposition accused Moise of governing beyond his term limit – which they say ended in February – and tightening his grip on power.
After the 2015 presidential election, Moise had been scheduled to serve a five-year term from February 7, 2016. However, the election was annulled due to fraud and Moise was only sworn in a year later after a new election.
Because he wasn’t sworn in until February 2017, Moise claimed his five-year term should end in 2022.
He had been ruling the country by decree since his administration failed to hold legislative elections in October 2019. Haiti has not had a parliament since the start of the new legislative period in January 2020.
Presidential and parliamentary elections, as well as a constitutional referendum, are now scheduled for September 26 in the Caribbean state.
It was not immediately clear who would succeed Moise as president, or who was calling the shots in the country.
In a sign of the political chaos even before the assassination, this Monday Moise had appointed Ariel Henry as the seventh prime minister of his term – succeeding Claude Joseph.
But, like Joseph before him, Henry could not be confirmed as head of government due to a lack of quorum in parliament, as Haiti’s constitution requires.
Joseph identifies as interim, or acting, prime minster. He is also the foreign affairs minister.
Haiti is considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and is still living with the impact of the catastrophic 2010 earthquake that left some 200,000 people dead.
Fighting by gangs for control of parts of the capital Port-au-Prince has driven almost 15,000 people to flee since the beginning of June, according to UN figures.
It is an open secret in the former French colony that the gangs have ties to politicians. Violence also repeatedly emanates from security forces.
Moise was not the first Haitian head of state to be killed in office.
The first ruler of the independent country after the revolution of self-liberated slaves, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, met the same fate in 1806.
Some 4.4 million Haitians, of the population of 11 million, are in need of humanitarian aid. Furthermore, the number of cases of Covid-19 and deaths has also increased significantly.
Moise’s killing drew condemnation from around the world and worries about the island’s stability.
In a statement, US President Joe Biden condemned the “heinous” act, offered his “sincere wishes for First Lady Moise’s recovery” and offered Washington’s support to Haiti.
He later told reporters the situation in Haiti “is very worrisome.”
Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said he was shocked, having spoken to Moise at a diplomatic forum only three weeks ago.
“This crime brings the risk of instability and a spiral of violence. Those responsible for this assassination must be found and brought to justice,” he wrote on Twitter.
The German Foreign Office said “it is of utmost importance that everything is done to not further jeopardize the security and stability in the country.”
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that “the perpetrators of this crime must be brought to justice.”
He called on “all Haitians to preserve the constitutional order, remain united in the face of this abhorrent act and reject all violence.”