Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated on Wednesday at his home by a group of unidentified gunmen, interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said. Joseph said the security situation in the country was “under the control” of Haiti’s police and military.
Haiti has suffered for years from political instability, and Moïse had been governing by decree. Critics had accused the 53-year-old of ruling like an autocrat.
How is President Jovenel Moïse assassinated..?
“An unidentified group of individuals, some of whom were speaking in Spanish, attacked the private residence of the President of the Republic and mortally wounded him,” Joseph said in a statement on Wednesday. “The First Lady was wounded by a bullet and the necessary measures are being taken.”
“The security situation of the country is under the control of the Haitian National Police and the Haitian Armed Forces,” Joseph said. “All measures are being taken to guarantee the continuity of the State and to protect the nation. Democracy and the Republic will triumph.”
According to the Miami Herald, the gunmen stormed Moïse’s home in a hilltop community of the capital, Port-au-Prince, claiming to be agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Videos seen by the Herald showed gunmen telling people at Moïse’s home to “put down your weapons. This is DEA.” Haitian sources told the Miami newspaper that the assailants were heard speaking English and Spanish, and that they were not DEA agents, but “mercenaries.”
President Jovenel Moïse assassination
Prime Minister Joseph condemned what he called a “hateful, inhumane and barbaric act.”
The nation of more than 11 million people had grown increasingly unstable and disgruntled under Moïse’s rule. Its economic, political and social woes have deepened, with gang violence spiking heavily in Port-au-Prince, inflation spiraling and food and fuel becoming scarcer at times in a country where 60% of the population makes less than $2 a day.
These troubles come as Haiti still tries to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew that struck in 2016.Haitian President Jovenel Moïse assassinated in his home
SOURCE www.cbsnews.com