Haitian president shot dead

The Prime Minister of Haiti, Claude Joseph, on Wednesday afternoon Norwegian time, declared a state of emergency after the murder. Reuters news agency reports. The Prime Minister called on citizens to abide by calm, explaining that the situation was “under control,” as he said Agency.

Joseph urges the UN Security Council to hold a meeting on the situation in the country as soon as possible, according to reports Reuters.

First Lady Martin Moss is also said to have been injured in the same attack and will be in critical condition on Wednesday evening. She is receiving further medical treatment in Miami. According to the news agency, Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Bouquet Edmond, was said to have said so.

The night before Thursday, the government announced that more people would be arrested.

According to Reuters, which refers to the statements of the police chief, three police officers were taken hostage by the same people who carried out the attack.

Two suspected perpetrators were arrested, while the police shot and killed four others.

The four, whom police describe as “hire killers,” were shot in a police operation in the capital, Port-au-Prince, late Wednesday, NTB wrote.

– Four killers were killed and two were arrested while they are under our control. Police Chief Leon Charles said in a televised statement Thursday evening, that three police officers, who were taken hostage, have been released.

“foreign mercenaries”

Haiti’s ambassador to the United States said, Wednesday, before the arrest, that the attack on the president and his wife was carried out by “well-trained professionals” and “foreign mercenaries” who pretended to be agents of the United States from the American drug control. DEA Agency. It’s the news agency reports AP.

According to the agency, the DEA has an office in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, to help combat drug crime in the country.

The US State Department says allegations that the killers are DEA agents are “completely false,” according to Reuters. The State Department also said the United States was ready to assist Haiti in the investigation.

condemns the work

– I condemn this ugly, inhuman and barbaric act, as Acting Prime Minister of Haiti Claude Joseph said in an official statement from the Haitian government reproduced by a number of international media, including the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.

The statement stated that the presidential residence was attacked by unknown persons who were said to speak Spanish. Claude Joseph says the perpetrators spoke in both English and Spanish Reuters.

to me Reuters Gunshots were heard across the capital, Port-au-Prince, on Wednesday night.

The Haitian Embassy in Canada also confirmed the attack in a statement Twitter.

It is with great sadness that we can confirm the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, the Haitian Embassy wrote.

Our thoughts are with the presidential family and the entire nation.

Colombian President Ivan Duque is now urging the Organization of American States to send a delegation to Haiti to protect the fragile democracy in the Caribbean.

US President Joe Biden will be briefed on the incident on Wednesday, and White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told MSNBC they are investigating the attack.

– This is a tragic tragedy. She told the channel it was a cruel crime.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon Norwegian time, the US president condemned the attack and described the measures as “disgusting,” he said. Reuters.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also sent his condolences on Twitter.

– This is a heinous act, he writes.

The approximately 11 million inhabitants of the Caribbean nation are currently experiencing increasing political and economic instability, and the country is ravaged by gang crime.

Last week, 15 people were killed in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Moise has been ruling Haiti since February 2017, more than a year after the original presidential election. The October 2019 elections were called off, in part as a result of the widespread protests against Moss.

The president has ruled by decree since the end of the previous National Assembly’s mandate in January last year. The opposition in the country accused him of trying to impose dictatorship. The president himself rejected this.

The UN Security Council last week called for new elections to be held as soon as possible.

Foreign Minister In Eriksen Soered told NTB that she condemned the attack.

– It is important that the Haitian authorities and politicians gather around a way out of this crisis, which comes on top of a number of challenges that Haiti is facing, as it continues the NTB.

Without a political background

Moyes was a businessman with no particular political background, but was elected president in 2017. He has been accused, among others, by several journalists of being deeply involved in corruption. This is part of the background to the protests that have taken place in the country, says Johan Hendal, senior advisor at Norwegian Church Aid.

Since February 7, protesters have demanded Moyes’ resignation after the end of his official term.

– There was a dispute in the country over the expiration of his presidency. Hindal says many in the opposition thought his boss’s term ended in February because his regular term ended at that time.

– He himself meant that he should remain in office for another year as this corresponds to the time elapsed from the election to his inauguration.

Hindal says the country is characterized by widespread gang crime and the political opposition is closely linked to gangs.

The presidency is very strong. Hendal believes that the fact that the president was able to rule the country by decree after the end of the parliamentary term is an example of this.

Among the poorest in America

In May, then Haitian Prime Minister Joseph Goeth abruptly resigned.

– The resignation of the government that you accepted will enable us to address security issues and continue discussions with the aim of reaching the necessary consensus to achieve political and institutional stability in our country. President Moss wrote on Twitter that Minister Claude Joseph had been appointed Prime Minister.

The country is among the poorest countries on the American continent. According to the Associated Press, 60 percent of the population has a daily income of less than 18 kroner. At the same time, inflation is rising, and food and gasoline are becoming increasingly expensive.

In 2010, about 1 million people became homeless strong earthquake that hit the country.

Between 200,000 and 300,000 people died as a result of the earthquake.

The money that came into the country to help after the earthquake in 2010, many believe, ended up in the private pockets of contractors, among others.