[ad_1]
President Jovenel Moïse’s widow has accused the Haitian leader’s national opponents of organizing his assassination, as prosecutors summoned key political and business figures to face interrogations in connection with the assassination.
Martine Moïse, who was seriously injured in the attack last week, spoke in Creole from Florida, where she is receiving hospital treatment.
“They sent mercenaries to kill the president at home with members of his family due to roads, water, electricity and the referendum, as well as the elections at the end of the year so that there would be no transition to country, “he told. an audio message posted Saturday on his Twitter account.
Detectives are questioning members of the presidential security team, who were unharmed when a squadron of 28 mostly Colombian mercenaries stormed Moïse’s private residence on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince in the early hours of Wednesday morning. they fired 12 bullets at the 53-. leader of a year.
The assassination has threatened to plunge Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, into chaos as politicians, wealthy business leaders and powerful gang leaders fight for power amid spiraling violence and severe food shortages and fuel.
Acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph has tried to assert control, having so far unsuccessfully appealed to UN and US troops to help protect key facilities. On Friday, opposition politicians named their own transitional leader, Senate President Joseph Lambert, and told the caretaker prime minister to step aside, arguing he had no legitimacy.
Confusion has reigned since the death of Moses over how to choose a temporary leader. Two different versions of the constitution, after a contested amendment in 2012, offer rival formulas and the head of the Supreme Court, a possible successor, died of coronavirus last month. Meanwhile, there are only ten elected officials left in the country, all of them senators, after the terms of all mayors and most parliamentarians expired last year without new elections being held.
International powers are wary of deeper involvement in Haiti, which has struggled to find stability and growth after decades of political turmoil and repeated natural disasters. The Caribbean island of eleven million people is heavily dependent on remittances from Haitian expatriates and international aid.
Bed-Ford Claude, Port-au-Prince’s public prosecutor, ordered five prominent Haitians to appear Monday morning to be questioned in connection with the murder, Le Nouvelliste newspaper reported. They included Reginald Boulos, opposition leader and business figure, and Steven Benoit, a former senator and presidential candidate.
Boulos gave an interview on Wednesday, condemning the murder and denying responsibility, saying, “I don’t think today’s opposition would have the capacity to carry out such a well-organized mission.”
Moïse claimed before he died that he was fighting political rivals and local business tycoons angry at his attempts to clean up government contracts. However, the late president had been accused of corruption, allegedly removing millions from a subsidized Venezuelan oil program. He denied the allegations.
There are now growing fears that Haiti’s powerful criminal gangs will increase control of the streets in the absence of a functioning government.
Former police officer Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, one of the country’s most powerful gang leaders, has accused police and opposition politicians of collaborating with the “stinking bourgeoisie” to kill Moses and called for a ” legitimate violence “to force local tycoons to return country.
Cherizier was sanctioned by the United States Treasury last year for allegedly designing a 2018 shantytown massacre in which at least 71 people died and more than 400 homes were destroyed. The bodies of the victims were dragged through the streets, burned, crumbled and fed to the animals, the Treasury said.
“It was a national and international conspiracy against the Haitian people,” Cherizier said in a video speech Saturday, dressed in khaki military uniforms and sitting in front of a Haitian flag. “We tell all the bases to mobilize, to mobilize and to take to the streets to shed light on the assassination of the president.”
[ad_2]
Source link
