Image source,EPA
Jovenel Moiz was in his private residence when he was attacked.
The President of the Caribbean country of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated in his private home in the capital, Port-au-Prince, at the age of 53. Acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph (Claude Joseph) declared a state of emergency throughout the country. The police said that they had killed at least four suspects, detained two people for investigation, and vowed that all persons involved in the case would be “killed or captured.”
The incident that occurred on Wednesday (July 7) shocked the world. The UN Security Council condemned it and called on the Haitian people to exercise restraint and refrain from turning violence into violence. As one of the few countries with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen also mourned Haiti, and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party vowed to maintain diplomatic relations with all its strength.
Moise’s presidency has recently caused controversy. Street demonstrations demanding that he step down continue to occur. The government is in a state of power vacuum, and the rampant gangs have caused many areas in Port-au-Prince to enter into a situation where strangers are not allowed to enter.
Analysts pointed out to the BBC that the situation in Haiti has become unpredictable.
Acting Prime Minister Joseph declared to impose a “state of martial law” on the country. The authorities can prohibit any assembly, use the army to perform police duties, and the executive branch can exercise greater powers.
US President Joe Biden extended his condolences to the Haitian people about this “horrible assassination”, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the assassination as “abominable” and called on the Haitian people to calm down and exercise restraint.
Latin American leaders also expressed their condolences to Haiti. Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez described Moiz as “a friend of our country and a defender of freedom” and has contributed a lot to the reconstruction of Venezuelan democracy. Duke also praised Moise for his efforts to promote the fair distribution of COVID-19 (new crown virus) vaccines.
Moise announced in 2019 that he recognized Juan Guaidó, the Speaker of the Venezuelan National Assembly, as Venezuela’s interim president, and abandoned his traditional ally, Nicolás Maduro.
Mexican President López (Andrés Manuel López Obrador) felt “very sad” about Moiz’s assassination and described it as “unfortunate.” He also reiterated that 150,000 doses of the new crown vaccine will be shipped to Haiti.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres (António Guterres) condemned the assassination through a spokesperson and called on all parties in Haiti to reasonably maintain constitutional order, unite and reject any acts of violence.
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Image source,EPA
After the assassination incident, police officers were deployed around the president’s private residence to guard with guns.
Image source,EPA
How the attackers broke into Moise’s private house is still a mystery.
What details do we know about the assassination of the President of Haiti?
At 01:00 local time on Wednesday (05:00 GMT), Moise’s private home in the town of Pétion-Ville in the southern mountainous area of Port-au-Prince was invaded by a killer with a heavy weapon.
President Moïse died on the spot. First lady Martine Moïse was seriously injured and was transferred to Florida by a medical plane for treatment. According to US media reports, Mrs. Moiz had several gunshot wounds on her body and was taken to a Miami hospital for treatment.
Acting Prime Minister Joseph said in a national television speech late Wednesday night that the attackers were “English and Spanish-speaking foreigners.” The official languages of Haiti are Haitian Creole and French.
The attacker was intercepted by the police when he fled, and a gun battle broke out between the two sides.
Joseph said: “Four mercenaries were killed and two were intercepted. They are under our control. Three police officers who were abducted have been rescued.”
The Haitian Police Chief Leon Charle said that the persons involved in the case are still at large “will be killed or arrested.”
The Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste quoted the Justice of the Peace (juge de paix, also translated as “magistrate”) of Petionville, Carl Henry Destin (Carl Henry Destin) as saying that the remains of President Moise shared There are 12 bullet holes in the forehead, chest, buttocks and abdomen.
Destin said: “The president’s office and bedroom were ransacked. We found him lying on the ground, wearing blue pants and a white shirt, all covered with blood. His mouth was open and his left eye was dug out.”
The Justice of the Peace added that the president’s daughter Jomarlie Moïse (Jomarlie Moïse) survived hiding in her brother’s room. Two domestic servants were tied up by the attackers. No one was shot except the president and the first lady.
The video released afterwards by relevant parties showed a group of people in black armed with heavy firepower coming to the president’s private residence, shouting in English: “DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) operation, all get down!”
In an interview, Bocchit Edmond, Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, said that it is “impossible” for the US Drug Enforcement Administration to be involved in the assassination. He believes it was done by “professional mercenaries”. Edmund later claimed that the killer was disguised as a U.S. anti-drug agent.
Order the government
Haiti has been plagued by coups, unrest, gang violence and natural disasters over the past few decades, and has been called the poorest country in the Americas. In this country of 11 million people, nearly 60% live below the poverty line.
More than 200,000 people were killed in the 2010 earthquake, which caused far-reaching damage to the country’s infrastructure and economy.
The United Nations sent a peacekeeping force to Haiti in 2004 and did not withdraw until 2017. However, such a turbulent situation does not seem to be over.
The parliamentary elections were supposed to be held in October 2019, but they were delayed for some reason. This meant that for some time in the past, Moise had to rely on his own law to maintain national governance.
Dr Jemima Pierre is the Haitian coordinator of the Black Alliance for Peace and an associate professor in the Department of African American Studies and Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She told the BBC that Moise had never been fully authorized by the Haitian people, and that when he was elected, he had only 12% of the people in the country. “It is impossible for Moiz to maintain a balance of power.”
“But the murder of a sitting president is still sad.”
Professor Amy Wilentz (Prof Amy Wilentz), a professor of English at the School of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) and a special editor of The Nation magazine, pointed out to the BBC that just before Moiz was killed, another A well-known young female politician was killed while driving home, so the situation in Haiti has long been tense.
She pointed out that Moiz will leave his post in about six months, and it is puzzling why he chose to commit the murder at this time. “Some people familiar with the matter claimed that he must have been retaliated against someone who was desperate, but we don’t know what happened.”
The President of Haiti is dead, who will preside over the overall situation?
Acting Prime Minister Joseph emphasized in a televised speech that the national security is “controlled” and the government will take all measures to maintain operations, “democracy and the republic will surely win.” The question is how much his real power still has.
Just before Moise was assassinated, he had appointed Ariel Henry as the new prime minister, but he had not yet been sworn in. The Haitian Constitution stipulates that once the president is vacant, the President of the Supreme Court should take over the post. However, President Rene Sylvestre died recently due to contracting the new crown virus.
The United States believes that Haiti should hold elections within this year as scheduled to achieve a peaceful transfer of power.
Prof Alex Dupuy, professor emeritus of sociology at Wesleyan University in the United States, who is a Haitian, commented to the BBC that Haiti does not have an effective government today, and that the local government has already Thousands of people were left homeless due to gang violence. Now Moiz is still assassinated. No one knows when effective governance will be restored.
Professor Willenz of the University of California, Irvine, said that the current situation is very unpredictable.
She said: “There are various gangs on the street. They have powerful firepower and financial support from different organizations.”
“There may be strongmen rising, or over-government may be born, and finally a free and fair election will be achieved, but it is difficult to predict which direction it will take.”
Relations between Taiwan and Haiti
It has been 65 years since Haiti established diplomatic relations with the Republic of China. As one of the few countries with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the Taipei government responded immediately after the murder of Haitian President Moise. The Presidential Office statement stated that President Tsai Ing-wen “expresses deep condolences and grief on behalf of the Chinese government and people”, “I am grateful to President Mois for promoting the deepening of cooperation between the two countries, and I am grateful that President Mois has repeatedly spoken out for Taiwan’s international participation. , I look forward to the family members of President Mois and take care of them.”
The statement said that Tsai Ing-wen also instructed Foreign Minister Wu Zhaoxie and the Taiwanese Embassy in Haiti to continue to pay close attention to the situation.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated: “According to our Embassy in Haiti, the nationals and overseas Chinese in Haiti are safe. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to pay close attention to the follow-up development of the Haitian political situation, and sincerely hope that Haitian society will return to calm as soon as possible and the people will live as soon as possible Back to normal.”
When Luo Zhizheng, a legislator of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, attended an online press conference in Taipei on Thursday (8th), he was asked about his views on the local situation when he accompanied Tsai Ing-wen to visit Haiti. Luo Zhizheng believes that the assassination may worsen the local political situation, but the Taipei government will do its best to ensure the maintenance of diplomatic relations.
Taiwan media reported that the day before the assassination, Haiti’s new ambassador to Taiwan, Roudy Stanley Penn, had just handed in his credentials to President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei.
Since the beginning of this year, as the new crown virus vaccine has been vaccinated all over the world, the diplomatic battle between China and Taiwan has shifted from mask diplomacy to vaccine diplomacy, and Latin American countries are also targets of China’s vaccine. The risks in the relationship between Taiwan and Haiti are becoming more apparent.