[SimoneFlen']

The president of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, has been assassinated in his home by a group of armed men who also seriously injured his wife, according to a statement and comments made by the country’s interim prime minister.

Speaking on a local radio station, Claude Joseph confirmed that Moïse, 53, had been killed, saying the attack was carried out by an “armed commando group” that included foreigners.

In a televised national address later on Wednesday, Joseph declared a state of emergency across the country, and made a call for calm. “The situation is under control,” he said.

According to the Haitian ambassador to Washington, Bocchit Edmond, Moïse’s killers claimed to be members of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as they entered his guarded residence.

“This was a well-orchestrated commando attack,” Edmond told the Guardian. “They presented themselves as DEA agents, telling people they had come as part of a DEA operation.”

In videos circulating on social media, a man with an American accent is heard saying in English over a megaphone: “DEA operation. Everybody stand down. DEA operation. Everybody back up, stand down.”

Residents reported hearing gunshots and seeing men dressed in black running through the neighbourhood.

“It could be foreign mercenaries, because the video footage showed them speaking in Spanish,” Edmond said. “It was something carried out by professionals, by killers … But since the investigation has been just been opened, we prefer to wait on legal authorities to have a better assessment of the situation. We don’t know for sure, with real certainty, who’s behind this.

“This is an act of barbarity. It’s an attack on our democracy,” he said.

Edmond said he had asked the White House on Wednesday morning for US help in identifying and capturing the killers.

“We need a lot more information,” Joe Biden said later at the White House, calling the killing “very worrisome”.

In a written statement, the US president offered condolences and assistance. “We condemn this heinous act, and I am sending my sincere wishes for First Lady Moïse’s recovery,” the statement said. “The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti.”

The attack took place at Moïse’s house in the Pelerin 5 district of Pétionville, a wealthy area with sometimes substantial and leafy villas in the hills above the capital, Port-au-Prince, with a reputation for being safe. It is an area critics of Moïse said he was loth to leave.

“Around one o’clock in the morning, during the night of Tuesday 6 to Wednesday 7 July 2021, a group of unidentified individuals, including some speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the president and fatally injured the head of state,” Joseph said in a statement quoted in the media.

Edmond said that Moïse’s three children were safe but his wife, Martine, was seriously wounded in the attack and was being taken to a hospital in Miami on Wednesday.

The attack happened barely 24 hours after Moïse had named a new prime minister, Ariel Henry, to take charge as head of the government and prepare the country for presidential elections in the next two months.

Moïse, a former entrepreneur, was the anointed political successor of the former president Michel Martelly. The assassination is likely to plunge the impoverished Caribbean nation into further turmoil after several years marked by political unrest and violence.

[Sugar³]

Always nice to see.

[Dyonisos]

Nice post, mate. Poor haitians, there’s a lot of them in my country.

[kellyhound]

Four people suspected of being involved in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti were killed by the police in a gun battle and two others were arrested, Haiti’s police chief said late Wednesday. The chief, Léon Charles, also said that three police officers who had been held hostage were freed.

Moise was a polarizing president.

In the last few months, his actions sparked massive protests around the country. During his term, gang violence and kidnappings skyrocketed. UNICEF reported that armed gangs control about a third of Port-au-Prince.

And since the violence spiked last September, more than 18,000 people have fled their homes. Moise was elected in 2016, but didn't take office until the following year. He said his five-year term was supposed to end in 2022. But his critics, including human rights groups and clergy members, insisted that his term was up this past February.

Earlier this year, he dissolved the Parliament, saying most lawmakers' terms had ended. He also forced three Supreme Court justices into early retirement. Moise pursued sweeping constitutional changes that would increase presidential power. He planned a vote on a referendum, as well as his replacement, in September. That election is in flux.

The United States backed Moise's timeline. But U.S. officials also criticized what they called his unchecked presidential power.

Hope they find out who they are and even more who hired them.

[SimoneFlen']

Originally Posted by Dyonisos ↗

Nice post, mate.

Many thanks.

[Gregor]

Here's a photo I nabbed on 4chan that's supposedly one of the people involved in the assassination. Not sure if this is legitimate or not.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...ER_unknown.png

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

Hope they find out who they are,

Cops arrested 17 people; 15 Colombians and two Americans of Haitian origin, for their alleged responsibility in the murder.

According to official sources, the attack against the official was perpetuated by a total of 28 people, 26 of them were Colombians and two Americans.

Eight of those involved are fugitives from justice and are wanted by the authorities, while another three lost their lives during shootings with the security forces.

Two of those allegedly implicated in Moise's murder were captured and handed over by a group of civilians, who carried them tied with ropes to a police station in the Pétion-Ville neighborhood of Port-au-Prince.

The apprehension of those allegedly implicated led to dozens of people gathering outside the police station, seeking to lynch the suspects, for which they set fire to three vehicles seized by the police.

Also seized were Colombian passports, guns, hammers, walkie talkies, bolt cutters and ammo.

It was at dawn last Wednesday when the president of Haiti was assassinated by an armed commando at his residence, located in Port-au-Prince.

In addition, his wife Marie Martine Etienne Joseph is hospitalized and is reported seriously after being injured by a bullet.

[v1r]

arrests

[xuaeded]

That body is not Juvenel Moise. He didn’t wear a watch. That is Monferrier Dorval, a prominent lawyer assassinated last year.

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by xuaeded ↗

That body is not Juvenel Moise. He didn’t wear a watch. That is Monferrier Dorval, a prominent lawyer assassinated last year.

you're correct, i just saw it in a social media post from aug 29. 2020
the pic is used on almost every news outlet being the president but it ain't so i deleted it