The assassination of the Haitian president exacerbates fears, uncertainty Gun Violence News

Port-au-Prince, Haiti – Continuing murder President Jovenel Moise on Wednesday morning called on the Haitian government to ask the United States to send his army to protect infrastructure and establish security so that the Caribbean nation can hold elections in September.

Haitian civil society activists say escalating gang violence and political instability after the death of Moses make real elections impossible.

If there is gang violence displaced more than 15,000 people from the beginning of June from the crowded neighborhoods around the capital. Houses and businesses have been burned and destroyed, and the main road linking the Port Prince to the southern peninsula has been blocked by armed gangs.

The insecurity of the last two weeks has seen not only the murder of Moses, but also the murder of one nurse As Martissant was crossing, thousands of residents and the massacre of 15 people from the southern exit of the capital, including Entrepreneur Antoinette Duclair and journalist Diego Charles.

National Network for the Defense of Human Rights found Between 2018 and 2020, at least 10 massacres took place in Port-au-Prince, and 1,085 people were killed in 2020 alone.

But the international community has it he continued to ask the first round of parliamentary and presidential elections will be held on 26 September.

“Haitians know that the international community too often encourages Haiti to go to the polls,” said Vel Papera Charlier, a leading anti-corruption activist linked to the Nou Pap Domi movement. “But no one will go out to vote even when you can’t cross Martissant.”

The motive is unclear

Theories about the attack that killed and seriously wounded Moses his wife, Martine Moise, have continued to develop, as authorities have not confirmed a motive behind the murder.

Haitian authorities said 26 Colombian mercenaries and two Haitian-Americans were involved. Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano he said 13 Colombian men were linked to the country’s military.

Martine Moise, in her first comments after the attack, said the mercenaries were sent to kill her husband for her politics. “In the blink of an eye, the mercenaries came into my house and shot my husband … without even giving him a chance to say a word,” she said. audio message shared on social media on Saturday.

No security personnel were killed at the residence of Moses during the incident, and Haitian officials said they plan to interrogate security officials close to Haitian President Le Nouvelliste. reported.

Colombian media he said Dimitri Herard, head of the General Security Unit of the National Palace (USPGN), also visited Colombia a few weeks before the assassination. Herard is enforcing U.S. law, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, for links to armed trafficking reported.

Despite the Haitian government request to deploy U.S. soldiers, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a news conference Friday that no U.S. troops would be sent to Haiti, but that the U.S. would send FBI and Security Department officials to Port-au-Prince. as soon as possible.

“We continue to call elections this year,” Psaki said. “Strengthening Haiti’s law enforcement capacity is a key priority for the United States. It remained in place before the assassination a few days ago.”

Political instability

Moses has met with strong opposition since taking office in 2017, personally accused Petrocaribe is involved in a $ 2 billion defense scheme linked to Petrocaribe, linked to an oil price reduction program in Venezuela, along with dozens of other governments and private entities.

He also ruled by decree in January 2020, when his parliamentary term expired, and encouraged constitutional crisis many civil society leaders, jurists and opposition political leaders said their five-year term ended in February. Moses stressed that his mandate would expire next year.

The political gap left by Moses has also affected two prime ministers.

Ariel Henry was appointed prime minister on Monday, two days before Moise’s death, but Claude Joseph, before he took office, has been recognized by the international community as the caretaker prime minister. Joseph announced a “state of siege” and 15 days of national mourning.

Haitian Election Minister Mathias Pierre said he was killed just 72 hours after Moise Henry was appointed, while Joseph was still the prime minister. He argued that he was staging a coup, saying the idea was created to “create doubt and division”.

Joseph Lambert, who remains in the Haitian Senate, has also been named “interim president” by Reuters news agency with the support of 10 senators. reported; the other 20 senators ended their terms last year and have not replaced them.

Lambert has been associated with gangs and criminal activities since 1999, according to a personal testimony given in 2013 by Sherlson Sanon on the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH). Sanon said he hired child soldiers like Lambert when he was just 11 years old to join the armed gangs, which Lambert rejected in his time as a dirt campaign.

“We can’t go to the polls because money, gangs and that monopoly of insecurity will be chosen,” Charlier told Al Jazeera.

A Haitian-led solution

Murders in Haiti are not uncommon; last it happened more than 100 years ago in 1915 and the United States began a military occupation that lasted until 1934.

Haitian historian Georges Michel, who helped draft the 1987 constitution, said it is a witness to Haiti’s “somalization” – a term used to describe the illegal situation created by the political vacuum – and that foreign intervention is inevitable.

“The United States will not allow another two-hour flight from Somalia to be developed from Miami International Airport,” Michel said.

He said Haiti could exceed the threshold that opens up the risk of future assassinations whenever there is an unusual president. Michel stressed, however, that the solution to the current crisis is Haitian – not foreign.

That’s what Charlier did, and he said Haiti had reached a breaking point. “And we need to break these corruption, impunity and anti-democratic situations.”