Widow of slain Haitian leader blames political enemies as power struggle intensifies

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Haitian national police officers guard the entrance to the United States Embassy as people gather to seek asylum following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on July 9, 2021 (Ricardo Arduengo, Reuters)

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) The widow of assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moise on Saturday accused obscure enemies of organizing his assassination to stop democratic change, as the power struggle intensified in the Caribbean nation.

Haiti has been in shock since Moise was shot dead Wednesday morning at his home in Port-au-Prince. Haitian authorities said trained foreign assassins, consisting of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, carried out the assassination. Colombian media have suggested that Colombians may have been hired to provide security for the president.

Martine Moise, who was also injured in the attack, said her husband was targeted for political reasons.

“You know who the president was up against,” she said in a recording posted on Twitter, without naming anyone.

“They sent mercenaries to kill the president in his home with members of his family because of roads, water, electricity and the referendum as well as the year-end elections so that he did not there is no transition in the country. “

The late president, who spoke about the dark forces at play behind years of unrest, rival politicians and oligarchs angry at his attempts to clean up government contracts and politics had proposed a referendum to change Haiti’s constitution.

The referendum, scheduled for September 26 at the same time as the presidential and legislative elections, could abolish the post of prime minister, reshape the legislative power and strengthen the presidency.

Moise’s murder clouded these plans and led to political disarray within the Haitian government, which called in troops from the United States and the United Nations.

The United States has said it does not intend to provide military assistance to Haiti, while the request to the UN would require authorization from its Security Council.

Late Friday, the man Moise appointed prime minister just before the assassination claimed the right to rule Haiti. But competing claims from political rivals have fueled uncertainty as the government struggles to maintain order and provide answers to the public about the murder.

A Haitian shows his passport outside the United States Embassy following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on July 9, 2021. (Photo: Estailove St-Val, Reuters)

Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who was appointed prime minister by the former president on Monday, told Reuters he is now Haiti’s highest authority, not acting prime minister Claude Joseph, and is training a government.

“After the assassination of the president, I became the highest legal and regular authority because there was a decree appointing me,” he said in a telephone interview on Friday evening.

Henry said his government would create a new electoral council as the previous one was seen as too partisan, which would determine new election dates.

“I don’t know when they will be, all I know is that we cannot take too long to do these elections. We have to do them as soon as possible,” he said.

But Henry is yet to be sworn in, and Joseph, who was appointed interim prime minister in April, remained behind, spearheading the assassination response, calling on the United States to support him and declaring a 15-day state of emergency.

Confusion about the legitimate leader

The power struggle has created confusion over who is the rightful leader of the country’s 11 million people.

Elections Minister Mathias Pierre has said interim Prime Minister Joseph will retain this role until the September 26 vote.

Meanwhile, Haiti’s Senate, which currently only comprises a third of its usual 30 senators, on Friday appointed its leader Joseph Lambert to act as interim president, according to a document reviewed by Reuters.

Henry said he was “ready to lead the country with anyone who wanted to move forward” when asked if he would rule alongside Lambert.

Haiti’s Acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph addresses the public after suspects in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise were shown to the media in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 8, 2021 (Photo : Estailove St-Val, Reuters)

Haiti’s 1987 constitution stipulates that the head of the Supreme Court must assume the interim presidency. But amendments that are not unanimously recognized state that it is the prime minister, or, in the last year of a president’s term as was the case with Moise, that parliament should elect a president.

To complicate matters further, the President of the Supreme Court died last month after contracting COVID-19 in one of the few countries that has yet to launch a vaccination campaign.

There is also no sitting parliament as parliamentary elections slated for late 2019 have been postponed due to political unrest.

Investigation in progress

Haitian officials did not give a reason for the assassination or explain how the killers managed to outwit Moise’s security services.

Upon taking power in 2017, Moise’s administration was beset by mass protests, first over allegations of corruption and its economic record, and then because of its growing grip on power.

Seventeen of the men suspected of being involved in his assassination were captured after a shootout with Haitian authorities in a hillside suburb of Port-au-Prince, while three were killed and eight are still at large, according to the police.

Colombian media reports from outlets such as Semana and El Tiempo suggested that the Colombian suspects had been hired to work as security for politicians in Haiti, including Moise.

Semana cited conversations with other former soldiers and family members of some of the men. El Tiempo said some of the men had been hired to provide security for “several dignitaries” in Haiti for a three-month trial period.

Reuters was unable to verify this information. Colombian police declined to say on Saturday who hired the men, saying the case was still under investigation. Officials said the soldiers were hired by four companies, without naming them.

Colombian officials recognize that soldiers are often recruited to work as mercenaries in other countries after they retire from the military. Colombia has requested more information from Haiti on what the soldiers are suspected of participating in.

Colombian investigators took a flight Friday evening to Port-au-Prince to assist Haitian authorities in the assassination investigation, said General Jorge Luis Vargas, head of the Colombian national police.

(Reporting by André Paultre in Port-au-Prince, Sarah Marsh in Havana and Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota; Writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing Paul Simao)

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