The President of Haiti, Jovenel Moise has been assassinated in an attack at his private residence on Wednesday.
This was disclosed by the country’s Interim Prime Minister on Wednesday, as he described the attack as “hateful, inhumane and barbaric act.”
Report also has it that First Lady, Martine Moïse was hospitalized following the overnight attack. The nation of more than 11 million people had grown increasingly unstable and disgruntled under Moïse.
Interim Premier Claude Joseph said, “The country’s security situation is under the control of the National Police of Haiti and the Armed Forces of Haiti. Democracy and the republic will win.”
Joseph added that the police have been deployed to the National Palace and the upscale community of Pétionville and will be sent to other areas.
According to Joseph, some of the attackers spoke in Spanish but offered no further explanation.
Moïse, who was 53, had been ruling by decree for more than two years after the country failed to hold elections, which led to Parliament being dissolved.
Opposition leaders have accused him of seeking to increase his power, including approving a decree that limited the powers of a court that audits government contracts and another that created an intelligence agency that answers only to the president.
What you should know about Haiti
- Haiti’s economic, political and social woes have deepened recently, with gang violence spiking heavily in the capital of Port-au-Prince, inflation spiraling and food and fuel becoming scarcer at times, in a country where 60% of the population makes less than $2 a day.
- These troubles come as Haiti still tries to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew that struck in 2016.
- Haiti was scheduled to hold general elections later this year.
