Condemning the attack as a “hateful, inhumane and barbaric act", Joseph said during a statement that a gaggle of unidentified assailants attacked Moïse’s home at around 1am on Wednesday and fatally shot the top of the state. First Lady Martine Moïse was also shot and is currently receiving treatment, added Joseph.
“The country’s security situation is under the control of the National Police of Haiti and therefore the soldiers of Haiti", Joseph stated, adding, “Democracy and therefore the republic will win”.
While Joseph said that a number of the assailants spoke Spanish, but offered no further explanation on who might be behind the assassination. The interim prime minister said that police are deployed to the National Palace and therefore the upscale community of Pétionville.
Haiti, a Caribbean nation of quite 11 million people, had grown unstable under Moïse amid a constitutional crisis. Moïse, a former banana exporter, and his supporters had been claiming that his term should end in 2022, five years after he took the office in early 2017. This stance was also backed by the us , the UN and therefore the Organization of yank States.
However, the opposition leaders were of the view that Moïse should have stepped down in February this year, citing a constitutional provision that starts the clock when a President is elected, not when he takes office. Moïse took the office a year after he was elected following a chaotic election that forced the appointment of a provisional President to serve during the year-long gap.
Opposition leaders accused Moïse of seeking to extend his power as he had been ruling by decree for quite two years after Haiti did not hold elections. Haiti has also been facing deep economic, political and social woes.
The capital of Port-au-Prince has been witnessing a spike in gang violence amid a scarcity of food and fuel. About 60% of Haiti’s population makes but $2 each day and therefore the region has been trying to get over the devastation caused by the 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew that struck in 2016.
