Jump to content

Haitian president assassinated


bolverk

Recommended Posts

President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti was assassinated in an attack in the early hours of Wednesday at his home on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, the prime minister said.

Mr. Moïse’s wife, Martine Moïse, was also shot in the attack, Prime Minister Claude Joseph said in a statement. Her condition was not immediately clear.

“A group of unidentified individuals, some of them speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the president of the republic and thus fatally wounded the head of state,” the prime minister said.

Mr. Joseph said in a telephone interview that he was the one running the country at the moment.

The news rocked the impoverished Caribbean island nation 675 miles southeast of Miami. Haiti has a long history of dictatorships and coups.

The country fought to emerge from one of the world’s most brutal slave colonies, one that brought France great wealth and that the colonial rulers fought to keep.

What started as a slave uprising at the turn of the 18th century eventually led to the stunning defeat of Napoleon’s forces in 1803. More recently, the country suffered under more than two decades of dictatorship by François Duvalier, known as Papa Doc, and then his son, Jean-Claude, known as Baby Doc.

A priest from a poor area, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, became the first democratically elected president in 1990. But in less than a year, he was deposed in a coup.

In recent months, the streets of Haiti have become clogged with angry protests demanding the removal of Mr. Moïse. He had clung to power, ruling by decree for more than a year, with many — including constitutional scholars and legal experts — contending that his term had expired.

Since a devastating earthquake 11 years ago, the country has not rebuilt, and many say it is worse off, despite billions of dollars of reconstruction aid. Armed gangs control the streets and have taken to kidnapping even schoolchildren and church pastors in the middle of their services. Poverty and hunger are on the rise, and the government has been accused of enriching itself while not providing even the most basic services.

Mr. Joseph said that the president had been “cowardly assassinated,” but that the murderers “cannot assassinate his ideas.” He called on the country to “stay calm” and said he would address the nation on Wednesday. He said the country’s security situation was under the control of the police and the army.

But international observers warned that the situation could quickly spiral out of control.

Didier Le Bret, a former French ambassador to Haiti, said he hoped Mr. Joseph would be able to run the country, despite his lack of political legitimacy.

“There is no more Parliament, the Senate is missing for a long time, there’s no president of the Court of Cassation,” Mr. Le Bret said, adding of Mr. Joseph: “Everything will rest on him.”

Mr. Le Bret said that the only way to “get out of the chaos” was that “active forces of the country, and what is left of the government” come together to set up legitimate and democratic elections.

He criticized the international community for ignoring the volatile political situation in Haiti and said it should now come help the country “to ensure a smooth transition.”

Mr. Le Bret said the situation in Haiti had become so volatile that “many people had an interest in getting rid of Moïse.”

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/07/world/jovenel-moise-assassinated-killed

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Parliament said:

I spent 6 weeks in the Dominican Republic in college.  We went to one of the border crossings and the difference was start.  Haiti is a very poor place.  

I have lived in both countries and you can say the Dominican Republic is poor on a Latin American level. Haiti is poor on an African level. 

I liked al the Haitians I worked with and feel sorry for them and the inability to establish a working government. Add to that the devastation of their earthquake and damn what a mess. 

The allegations that the gunmen were speaking Spanish adds to this mess. Two countries are not the best of friends going back to the 1800's. But no matter how much the Dominicans and Haitians do not get along, there is nothing gained by the Dominicans to be behind this. Will reach out to a few friends there and see if they can pass on any information. 

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or a classic set up to keep the neighbors inside and away from the action. DEA raids are not that common overseas without the coordination with local law enforcement. Haiti has a bad ass SWAT team (or did) which did coordinate with the US quite a bit. 

My take is a rival pulled this and the DEA/Spanish speakers were due to the use of outsiders ala failed coup in Venezuela awhile back. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read that the main guy yelling "DEA" was doing so with American English and American accent. What kind of mercernary from America would do that?

I work with a guy who was born in Haiti and messaged him first thing this morning and he was pretty distraught about it, so I think's not a popular will of the people type assassination even if he wasn't the best or most popular President.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, JulesVerne said:

I read that the main guy yelling "DEA" was doing so with American English and American accent. What kind of mercernary from America would do that?

I work with a guy who was born in Haiti and messaged him first thing this morning and he was pretty distraught about it, so I think's not a popular will of the people type assassination even if he wasn't the best or most popular President.

That is why I said the accent sounds off. I cannot hear the Spanish well enough. Would love to hear it and try and pin point the accents. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The DEA thing is what's odd to me. If he were not involved with drugs, then the whole DEA thing would've set off his bullshit meter from the start. He's the President of a country. Why would he DEA be going after him? What right would they have to come to his house and try to arrest him?

Unless...he were mixed up in shit involving drugs. Then the DEA thing would be like, oh shit, the Americans found out about my shit. 

That's what got me thinking drugs are involved.

Edited by crash_davis
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

The DEA thing is what's odd to me. If he were not involved with drugs, then the whole DEA thing would've set off his bullshit meter from the start. He's the President of a country. Why would he DEA be going after him? What right would they have to come to his house and try to arrest him?

Unless...he were mixed up in shit involving drugs. Then the DEA thing would be like, oh shit, the Americans found out about my shit. 

That's what got me thinking drugs are involved.

Wasn't that part of our justification for invading Panama?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Parliament said:

I spent 6 weeks in the Dominican Republic in college.  We went to one of the border crossings and the difference was start.  Haiti is a very poor place.  

Two Haiti stories from active duty times.

I was on a U.S. Navy ship in the 90's and for whatever political reason the US was doing a naval a blockade of Haiti that my ship was part of  enforcing. We saw a vessel trying to go past us so we went up to it, but the guy would not stop his boat when requested.  We pulled up next to him with guns out and again told him to stop.   He is in a small fishing boat and he tells us the boat has a leak and he can't stop or the boat will sink.  We judged him to be correct and let him keep on going.

Also ran into a young enlisted guy in Army or Marines when we pulled in for liberty somewhere in that area.  He had been on the ground with the U.S. military effort to stabilize and help the country.  He was a 19-20 year old black kid/man who said he was from the projects growing up, and his comment was that he thought he grew up poor and knew what poor was, but after being in Haiti he had had no idea what poor really meant until then.

Super poor country with lot's of corruption.  Not any easy fixes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, crash_davis said:

Hitmen "DEA" agents speaking Spanish. Someone should maybe look into drugs and cartels? Or maybe someone hired cartel hitmen and has nothing to do with drugs?

Or someone hired hitmen on drugs that have nothing to do with cartels?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, InkaUtexas said:

There were lots of reasons for Panama, yet we did not kill Noriega. 

Right. Given that we "arrested" him and brought him to trial in the US (I don't think I'm misremembering), that would tell me that this likely wasn't a DEA assassination. Could it have been an arrest that went awry? Maybe. But I have my doubts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Parliament said:

I spent 6 weeks in the Dominican Republic in college.  We went to one of the border crossings and the difference was start.  Haiti is a very poor place.  

Most of what I know about the Dominican Republic is their women represent well in beauty pageants. It wasn't until recently I found out they share a long border with Haiti. 

So I wondered why there is such a difference between the two parts of the island, here's a intro 101 class to explain the difference.

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1953959,00.html

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at his own home in Port Au-Prince in the early morning hours Wednesday.
His wife, Martine Moïse, was shot multiple times in the incident and was flown to Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, arriving at approximately 3:30 p.m.
Arrangements were made for her to be taken to Miami for treatment at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Officials said her vitals are stable but critical.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Superhero said:

Most of what I know about the Dominican Republic is their women represent well in beauty pageants. It wasn't until recently I found out they share a long border with Haiti. 

So I wondered why there is such a difference between the two parts of the island, here's a intro 101 class to explain the difference.

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1953959,00.html

 

 

We took classes at a college in Santiago and had a volleyball tournament one night.  Four teams; the Americans, Germans, Dominicans and Haitians.  We walloped the krauts, and the DR v Haiti match was...intense.  Yeah they hate eachother.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read that the main guy yelling "DEA" was doing so with American English and American accent. What kind of mercernary from America would do that?

Remember the idiots who thought they were gonna launch a coup in Venezuela?
  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, InkaUtexas said:

Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at his own home in Port Au-Prince in the early morning hours Wednesday.
His wife, Martine Moïse, was shot multiple times in the incident and was flown to Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, arriving at approximately 3:30 p.m.
Arrangements were made for her to be taken to Miami for treatment at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Officials said her vitals are stable but critical.

Has anyone seen, or talked to Bob Lee Swagger lately?

Edited by SHOOTER12
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...