Haitians in the US say they are in the middle of an “examination of conscience” after the assassination of the president of Haiti

(CNN) – The assassination of the president of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, has many leaders of the Haitian community in the United States dreading what may come next.

“There are very real fears about whether or not there will be violence in the streets,” said Vania Andre, editor of the Haitian Times, an influential newspaper for the Haitian diaspora in the United States.

The attackers broke into Moïse’s home at around 1am on Wednesday and mortally wounded the head of state, according to Acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who called the murder “a heinous, inhuman and barbarous act.”

Haiti’s first lady, Martine Moïse, was shot in the bombing and evacuated to a Miami hospital for treatment, the Haitian ambassador to the United States said. His condition is stable but critical, Ambassador Bocchit Edmond said Wednesday.

Extreme violence in the streets

Moïse’s death comes as the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, is facing extreme violence that has escalated since June, claiming the lives of many citizens.

Rival groups have clashed with each other or with the police for control of the streets, displacing tens of thousands of people and worsening the country’s humanitarian crisis.

Following the flood of international support for the country following the devastating 2010 earthquake, many Haitian Americans were optimistic that political and social unrest in the country would improve, with some even returning to be part of the growth, he said Andre in a statement.

“Moïse’s murder is the last nail in the coffin for them,” Andre said. “This is a generation of change, anyone who had a non-profit organization, a business, an idea for initiatives that support sustainability in the country, will now think twice about whether Haiti is worth it.”

A desperate financial situation

In addition, the country is still waiting for covid-19 vaccines and faces a desperate economic situation. Its economy was contracting before the pandemic and shrank by a further 3.8% in 2020, and about 60% of the population now lives in poverty, according to the World Bank.

Throughout his presidency, Moïse repeatedly failed to hold elections at the local and national levels, leaving much of the country’s governance infrastructure empty. Many in Haiti questioned Moïse’s right to remain in office this year, citing a dispute over when his term officially began.

“The combination of economic instability, socio-political instability and corruption is the formula for this type of situation to occur,” Alba Mota, organizer of Humanitarian Relief for Haiti, told Spectrum News NY1 television.

The Rev. Reginald Jean-Mary, a priest from Little Haiti in Miami, told CNN affiliate WSVN that Haitians around the world mourn both the president and the sense of stability.

“I was very affected to hear the news, that we fall so much, that we fall so much as a country,” said Jean-Mary. “The country is in a very difficult situation. In the 21st century, this is not where we expected the country to be.”

Now, he said, it is time for Haitians and Haitian-Americans to do an “examination of conscience.”

With information from Etant Dupain, Gerardo Lemos, Ivana Kottasová and Caitlin Hu.