Haitian president’s killing fuels escalating fears, uncertainty | Gun Violence News

Port-au-Prince, Haiti – Following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise early Wednesday, the Haitian government called on the United States to deploy its military to protect infrastructure and provide security so the Caribbean nation can hold elections in September.

But Haitian civil society activists say the rising gang violence and political instability following Moise’s murder make real elections impossible.

Since the beginning of June, gang violence has displaced more than 15,000 people from densely populated areas of the capital. Homes and businesses were burned and destroyed, and the main road connecting Port-au-Prince to the southern peninsula was blocked by armed gangs.

The uncertainty in the last two weeks alone has not only been the murder of Moise, but also the murder of a nurse while crossing Martissant, a neighborhood with thousands near the southern exit of the capital, and the massacre of 15 people, including the Activist Antoinette, followed by Duclair and the journalist Diego Charles.

The National Network for the Defense of Human Rights found that at least 10 massacres were committed in Port-au-Prince between 2018 and 2020, while 1,085 people were killed in 2020 alone.

However, the international community continues to push for the first round of parliamentary and presidential elections to be held on September 26th.

“Haitians know that the international community pushes Haiti too often to vote,” Velina Charlier, a prominent anti-corruption activist associated with the Nou Pap Domi movement, told Al Jazeera. “But nobody’s going to vote if you can’t even cross Martissant.”

Motive unclear

Theories about the attack that killed Moise and seriously injured his wife Martine Moise continue to evolve as authorities have not confirmed a motive for the murder.

According to the Haitian authorities, 26 Colombian mercenaries and two Haitian Americans were involved. Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano said 13 of the Colombian men had ties to the country’s military.

Martine Moise said in her first comments since the attack that the mercenaries were sent to kill her husband because of his policy. “In no time the mercenaries broke into my house and riddled my husband with bullets … without even giving him the opportunity to say a word,” she said in an audio message shared on social media on Saturday.

No security guards at Moise’s residence were injured during the incident, and Haitian officials said they intend to interview security officials near the slain president, Haitian news agency Le Nouvelliste reported.

Colombian media said that the head of the General Security Unit of the National Palace (USPGN), Dimitri Herard, visited Colombia a few weeks before the attack. Herard is under investigation by U.S. law enforcement agencies for links to armed human trafficking, the Center for Economic and Policy Research reported.

Despite the Haitian government’s request to send American soldiers, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a press conference Friday that US troops would not be sent to Haiti, but the US would send senior officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to Haiti Port-au-Prince asap.

“We continue to demand that there be elections this year,” said Psaki. “Strengthening Haiti’s law enforcement capacity is one of the top priorities of the US – it was still the case before the attack a few days ago.”

Political instability

Moise had aroused strong opposition since taking office in 2017, personally accused of being involved with dozens of other government and private entities in a $ 2 billion embezzlement program related to Petrocaribe, a Venezuelan oil price-cutting program.

He also ruled by decree since January 2020, when Parliament’s term expired, and sparked a constitutional crisis when many civil society leaders, lawyers and opposition politicians said his five-year term ended in February. Moise had insisted that his term expire next year.

The political vacuum left by Moise has also resulted in two prime ministers.

Ariel Henry was named prime minister on Monday, just two days before Moise’s death, but Claude Joseph, who previously held the post, was recognized as interim prime minister by the international community. Joseph proclaimed a “state of siege” and 15 days of national mourning.

Haitian election minister Mathias Pierre said Joseph is still legally prime minister as Moise was murdered less than 72 hours after Henry was appointed. He rejected arguments that a coup was taking place, saying the idea was “created to arouse doubt and division”.

Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise speaks during an interview at the Port-au-Prince National Palace in January 2020 [File: Valerie Baeriswyl/Reuters]Joseph Lambert, the chairman of the rest of the Haitian Senate, has also named himself “interim president” with the support of 10 senators, the Reuters news agency reported; the other 20 senators expired last year and were not replaced.

Lambert has been implicated in gang and criminal activity since 1999, according to a personal testimony from Sherlson Sanon in 2013 before the National Network of Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH). Sanon said Lambert recruited child soldiers like him to join armed gangs at the age of 11, an accusation Lambert then dismissed as a smear campaign.

“We can’t rush elections because the same people are elected with the money, the gangs and this monopoly of insecurity,” Charlier told Al Jazeera.

Haitian run solution

Assassinations are not common in Haiti; the last occurred more than 100 years ago in 1915 and ushered in military occupation by the United States that lasted until 1934.

Georges Michel, a Haitian historian who helped draft the 1987 constitution, said Haiti is experiencing “Somalization” – a term used to describe a state of lawlessness created amid a political vacuum – and that foreign intervention is inevitable .

“The United States will not tolerate another Somalia that is only a two-hour flight from Miami International Airport,” said Michel.

He said Haiti may have crossed a threshold risking future assassinations if there is an unpopular president. However, Michel stressed that the solution to the current crisis was a Haitian – not a foreign one.

This was repeated by Charlier, who said Haiti had reached a breaking point. “And we have to get rid of corruption, impunity and these anti-democratic situations.”