Haiti’s dead leader’s widow blames political enemies as power struggles escalate

By Andre Paultre and Sarah Marsh

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – The widow of the late Haitian president, Juvenel Moise, blamed shadowy enemies on Saturday for plotting to stop democratic change as the fight for power in the Caribbean country intensified.

Moses was shot before dawn on Wednesday at his home in Port-au-Prince, Haitian authorities said he was a unit of trained killers made up of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans.

Doubts have been raised, however, about this narrative, saying that at least two Colombian families have been hired as bodyguards.

Martine Moise, who was injured in an attack on the president’s private residence and was taken to Florida for medical treatment, said her husband had been taken for political reasons.

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

“Mercenaries were sent to the president’s home to kill him and his family members because of roads, water, electricity and a referendum, and because of the end-of-year elections, so that there would be no transition in the country.”

The deceased president spoke of the dark forces behind the unrest of his tenure – angering rival politicians and oligarchs, calling for government contracts and attempts to clean up politics – and proposed a referendum to change Haiti’s constitution.

A referendum held in conjunction with the presidential and legislative elections on September 26 could overturn the prime minister’s position, reshape the legislative branch and strengthen the presidency. Critics called for him to seize power.

The assassination of Moses has blurred these plans and caused political imbalance in Haiti as the acting government has called for U.S. and UN troops.

The United States has said it has no plans to provide military assistance to Haiti at this time https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/colombian-suspects-haiti-presidents-killing-arrived-via-dominican-republic-2021- 07-09, Requests to the United Nations would require the consent of the Security Council.

POWER STRUGGLE

On Friday night, before the man who appointed Moise as prime minister, he claimed the right to rule Haiti, which he pitted against acting President Claude Joseph, who has so far managed the government’s response to the assassination.

Ariel Henry, the neurosurgeon who appointed Moses as prime minister on Monday, told Reuters on Friday that he was now the main authority in Haiti, not the caretaker Prime Minister Joseph, and that he was forming the government.

“After the assassination of the President, I became the chief, legal and regular authority because there was a decree appointing me,” he said.

Henry said his government would create a new election council that would set new dates for the election “as soon as possible.”

But Henry has not yet been sworn in, and Joseph, who was appointed interim prime minister in April, has been at a standstill.

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

Election Minister Mathias Pierre has said that acting Prime Minister Joseph will remain in office until the September 26 vote.

Meanwhile, the Haitian Senate, which currently has only a third of its usual 30 senators, has nominated itself https://www.reuters.com/article/us-haiti-president-senate/haitis-senate-says-its-head- he is due to replace the ousted president idUSKCN2EG00K, Joseph Lambert, on Friday as interim president, according to a statement from Reuters.

The 1987 Haitian constitution stipulates that the head of the Supreme Court must take over the interim president. But amendments that are not unanimously approved say that he is the prime minister, or that in the last year of the president’s tenure – as was the case with Moses – parliament must elect a president.

Complicating matters, the head of the Supreme Court died last month in one of the only countries that has not started the vaccination campaign after hiring COVID-19.

There is also no seat for parliament, as the legislative elections scheduled for the end of 2019 have been postponed amid political unrest.

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

Haitian officials have not given a motive for the murder or explained how the killers overcame the security details of Moses.

No Moses guard was injured in the attack, Election Minister Pierre told Reuters.

When he took power in 2017, the Moise administration suffered mass protests, first as a result of allegations of corruption and its economic history, then due to increasing control over power and impunity, when group violence escalated.

Seventeen of the men suspected of taking part in his killings were caught in a gun battle with Haitian authorities in a hillside neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, with three dead and eight still at large, police said.

Former senator Steven Benoit told local radio station Magik9 on Saturday: “The president was killed by his guards, not the Colombians. … The latter were hired by the Haitian state.”

He was unable to reach Benoit on Saturday to comment.

Duberney Capador’s 40-year-old sister who died in a firefight with Haitian police told Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/colombian-ex-soldier-killed-haiti-was-hired -bodyguard-sisters-says-2021- Call 07-10 the retired soldier on Saturday was offered security work to senior people.

Jenny Carolina Capador said her brother sent her messages on the day of Moses’ death, saying, “We arrived late; unfortunately the person we would take care of … we can’t do anything about it.”

Reports from Colombian media outlets, including Semana and El Tiempo vendors, suggested that Colombian suspects were hired to work as security for Haitian politicians, including Moise.

The week referred to conversations with other former soldiers and relatives of some men. El Tiempo said some men were hired in Haiti to provide security to “several authorities” during the three-month trial period.

Reuters was unable to verify these reports. Colombian police did not specify on Saturday who hired the men, saying they are still investigating the matter. Officials said the soldiers were hired by four companies without being named.

Colombian officials have acknowledged that soldiers are often hired as soldiers in other countries to work as mercenaries after retiring from the army. Colombia has asked Haiti for more information about the involvement of soldiers.

Colombian investigators flew to Port-au-Prince on Friday to assist Haitian authorities in the murder probe, the Colombian national police chief said.