{"id":34527,"date":"2021-07-08T08:15:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T07:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=34527"},"modified":"2021-07-08T08:15:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T07:15:00","slug":"haiti-four-dead-after-police-gunfight-with-suspected-killers-of-president-jovenel-moise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=34527","title":{"rendered":"Haiti: four dead after police gunfight with suspected killers of president Jovenel Mo\u00efse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Haiti\u2019s security forces have killed four members of a group of \u201cmercenaries\u201d who\u00a0assassinated President Jovenel Mo\u00efse in his home, police chief Leon Charles has said.

\u201cThe police is still in combat with the assailants,\u201d Charles said in a televised briefing late on Wednesday, \u201cWe blocked them en route as they left the scene of the crime. Since then, we have been battling with them.\u201d Two of the attackers had been detained. Of the rest he said: \u201cThey will be killed or captured\u201d.

Haiti\u2019s communications secretary, Frantz Exantus, had earlier said police had arrested the \u201cpresumed assassins\u201d without providing any further details. Three police officers held hostage by the suspected gunmen were freed late Wednesday, Charles said.

The killing of Mo\u00efse earlier on Wednesday, and the wounding of his wife, was expected to bring more chaos to the unstable Caribbean country already beset by gang violence, soaring inflation and protests by opposition supporters who accused Mo\u00efse of increasing authoritarianism.

Interim prime minister Claude Joseph said the police and military were in control of security. The poorest country in the\u00a0Americas, Haiti has a history of dictatorship and political upheaval.

Speaking on a local radio station, Claude Joseph confirmed that Mo\u00efse, 53, had been killed, saying the attack was carried out by an \u201carmed commando group\u201d that included foreigners.

In a televised national address, Joseph declared a state of emergency across the country, and made a call for calm. \u201cThe situation is under control,\u201d he said.

In a later interview with the Associated Press, Joseph called for an international investigation into the assassination, said that elections scheduled for later this year should be held and pledged to work with Mo\u00efse\u2019s allies and opponents alike.

\u201cWe need every single one to move the country forward,\u201d Joseph said. He alluded to enemies of the president, describing him as \u201ca man of courage\u201d who had opposed \u201csome oligarchs in the country, and we believe those things are not without consequences.\u201d

According to the Haitian ambassador to Washington, Bocchit Edmond, Mo\u00efse\u2019s killers claimed to be members of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as they entered his guarded residence.

\u201cThis was a well-orchestrated commando attack,\u201d Edmond told the Guardian. \u201cThey presented themselves as DEA agents, telling people they had come as part of a DEA operation.\u201d

In videos circulating on social media, a man with an American accent is heard saying in English over a megaphone: \u201cDEA operation. Everybody stand down. DEA operation. Everybody back up, stand down.\u201d

Residents reported hearing gunshots and seeing men dressed in black running through the neighbourhood.

\u201cIt could be foreign mercenaries, because the video footage showed them speaking in Spanish,\u201d Edmond said. \u201cIt was something carried out by professionals, by killers \u2026 But since the investigation has been just been opened, we prefer to wait on legal authorities to have a better assessment of the situation. We don\u2019t know for sure, with real certainty, who\u2019s behind this.

\u201cThis is an act of barbarity. It\u2019s an attack on our democracy,\u201d he said.

Edmond said he had asked the White House on Wednesday morning for US help in identifying and capturing the killers.

\u201cWe need a lot more information,\u201d Joe Biden said later at the White House, calling the killing \u201cvery worrisome\u201d.

In a written statement, the US president offered condolences and assistance. \u201cWe condemn this heinous act, and I am sending my sincere wishes for first lady Mo\u00efse\u2019s recovery,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThe United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti.\u201d

The UN Security Council condemned the assassination and called on all parties to \u201cremain calm, exercise restraint and to avoid any act that could contribute to further instability.\u201d

In a statement the 15-member council also called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. The council is due to be briefed on the killing in a closed-door meeting on Thursday.

The attack took place at Mo\u00efse\u2019s house in the Pelerin 5 district of P\u00e9tionville, a wealthy area with sometimes substantial and leafy villas in the hills above the capital, Port-au-Prince, with a reputation for being safe. It is an area critics of Mo\u00efse said he was loth to leave.

\u201cAround one o\u2019clock in the morning, during the night of Tuesday 6 to Wednesday 7 July 2021, a group of unidentified individuals, including some speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the president and fatally injured the head of state,\u201d Joseph said in a statement quoted in the media.

Edmond said that Mo\u00efse\u2019s three children were safe but his wife, Martine, was seriously wounded in the attack and was being taken to a hospital in Miami on Wednesday.

The attack happened barely 24 hours after Mo\u00efse had named a new prime minister, Ariel Henry, to take charge as head of the government and prepare the country for presidential elections in the next two months.

Mo\u00efse, a former entrepreneur, was the anointed political successor of the former president Michel Martelly. The assassination is likely to plunge the impoverished Caribbean nation into further turmoil after several years marked by political unrest and violence.

The US embassy said it would be closed on Wednesday owing to the \u201congoing security situation\u201d. \u201cWe\u2019re still gathering information,\u201d the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said on MSNBC. \u201cWe\u2019re still assessing right now.\u201d

\u201cIt\u2019s a horrific crime,\u201d Psaki added in an interview with CNN. \u201cWe stand ready and stand by them to provide any assistance that\u2019s needed.\u201d

Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, said: \u201cI am shocked and saddened at the death of President Mo\u00efse. Our condolences are with his family and the people of Haiti. This is an abhorrent act and I call for calm at this time.\u201d

As details of the assassination emerged, the Colombian president, Iv\u00e1n Duque, called on the Organisation of American States to send an urgent mission to \u201cprotect the democratic order in Haiti\u201d.

Mo\u00efse\u2019s time in office was marked by an increase in political instability, allegations of corruption and a\u00a0long-running dispute about when his period in office should end. He had been ruling by decree for more than a year after the country failed to hold legislative elections and he wanted to push through controversial constitutional changes.

There have been intermittent periods of protests and street violence and a rise in gang violence, some of it tied to political parties.

Instability has been exacerbated by the\u00a0Petrocaribe scandal, a controversy that arose from a scheme to buy discounted oil from Venezuela on cheap credit. The idea was to free up funds for social schemes, but the money was pocketed by politicians.

Earlier this year amid allegations by Mo\u00efse of a coup attempt that planned to \u201cmurder him\u201d and fresh protests, he moved to protect his position, ordering the arrest of 23 people including a supreme court judge and a senior police official, while declaring he was \u201cnot a dictator\u201d.

Opponents had also accused Mo\u00efse\u2019s government of fuelling political violence by providing gangs with guns and money to intimidate his adversaries.

The Caribbean country \u2013 the world\u2019s first black republic after its revolution against French rule \u2013 has a history marked by poverty, authoritarian rule, political instability and external interference including a long US occupation. It has struggled to rebuild since a\u00a0devastating earthquake in 2010\u00a0and\u00a0Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

\u25aa\ufe0e Report by The Guardian <\/\nstrong>of London<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Haiti\u2019s security forces have killed four members of a group of \u201cmercenaries\u201d who\u00a0assassinated President Jovenel Mo\u00efse in his home, police chief Leon Charles has said. \u201cThe police is still in combat with the assailants,\u201d Charles said in a televised briefing late on Wednesday, \u201cWe blocked them en route as they left the scene of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":34528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5781],"tags":[3664,1302,3665],"class_list":["post-34527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-obituary","tag-assassination","tag-four","tag-haiti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}