Haiti in crisis as theories about the assassination of the president fill in the information gaps

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) – The charred chassis of three cars mark the way to the president’s home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Just up the hill, former leader Jovenel Moïse was murdered in his room, in an otherwise quiet neighborhood full of large houses and high walls with barbed wire and hanging flowers.

It is still unknown what exactly happened during the attack in the early morning of Wednesday, July 7, along with its motive. But Carl Henri Destin, a local district judge tasked with investigating and documenting the crime scene, described the aftermath in detail to CNN.

“The doors were riddled with bullets, the glass was smashed, the doors were smashed, even the locks were smashed and thrown to the ground,” he said.

Inside, climbing a wide bloodstained staircase that leads to a bedroom, Destin says she looked through another broken door and saw her president lying on the floor.

“He was wearing a white shirt and a pair of blue jeans. His shirt was ripped and full of blood. I saw 12 visible gunshot wounds on the president’s body … his left eye was broken, but both were still open.”

Dozens of viral images and videos purporting to show the shocking attack are circulating in Haiti and abroad, few of which can be verified as authentic. But hardly anyone shows Moïse, the damage left by the attack, or the transfer of his body from the house; and Destin takes credit for that, explaining that out of respect for the fallen leader he forbade most people at the crime scene from taking photos.

However, perhaps in a sign of hunger for an explanation, the absence of images has spawned several conspiracy theories. And in Port-au-Prince, all of this fuels a wave of speculation and uncertainty in a city already shaken by rampant criminal violence, economic deprivation and political instability.

What we know and what we don’t know

Many questions about what exactly happened at the home of the President of Haiti on the night of his death remain unanswered.

What we do know is that according to the remaining government – now led by Acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph – Moïse’s home was attacked around 1 a.m. The president was assassinated and his wife, First Lady Martine Moïse, was wound. Since then, she has been flown to Miami for treatment.

A group of at least 28 people are suspected of the homicide, of which 26 are Colombians and two are US citizens. So far, 20 of those suspects have been detained, five are at large and three have been killed.

According to a spokesperson for the acting prime minister’s office, those cars burned in the street of Moïse’s home belonged to some of the suspects, whom police later engaged in a shootout. The nearest storefront, decorated with a weathered sign that quotes Psalm 27: 1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” it bears witness to a terrible battle by featuring piles of broken glass, bullet marks, and bloodstains.

Colombian National Police Chief Major General Jorge Vargas said on Friday that 13 retired members of the Colombian military had traveled to Haiti in recent months and are believed to have been involved in the killing. But it is still unknown why a group of foreign citizens would attack the president of Haiti. No statements have been made from the detained suspects and the investigation is far from over.

“There is a mastermind behind this murder, and that is what we need to find out,” Elections Minister Mathias Pierre told CNN.

It is also unclear how the assassins were able to penetrate various levels of presidential security, including roadside police checkpoints and Moïse’s personal guard. Despite the apparent scale of the attack and the signs of rampant shooting at the president’s home documented by Destin, none of the president’s guards were injured, Haitian elections minister Mathias Pierre told CNN.

Destin, who collected witness testimony at the scene the next morning, said she has not been able to hear any first-hand accounts of what happened during the attack itself. When he arrived at the president’s home, the police security booth was empty and officers without identification plates or badges met him at the entrance, he said.

“I was informed that no one who was there the night of the murder was present … I did not have the opportunity to speak to anyone who was at the scene during the attack,” Destin said.

The investigation is ongoing and the interim government of Haiti has requested additional assistance from the United States and the UN to help deepen the matter.

Senior officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are expected to travel to Port-au-Prince “as soon as possible” to provide assistance both in security and in the investigation, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday. Colombia will also send its national intelligence chief to assist in the investigation.

What is the next step

There are too many unanswered questions, from when the president’s funeral will take place, to who should succeed him, and even whether the country is prepared to move forward with the long-awaited elections this fall. Added to all this is a sense of apprehension, and many streets in Port-au-Prince have been unusually empty.

The murder has heightened fears of other violent outbreaks in the capital city, which in June caused more than 13,000 people to be displaced from their homes by fires and battles between police and rival gangs. Haiti’s interim government requested that both the United States and the United Nations provide troops to enforce security at key infrastructure points such as ports, airports and oil terminals.

Elections Minister Pierre, who feared he and other top officials could be targeted when he first learned of Moïse’s death, says he feels he could now face retaliation for continuing the late president’s political agenda.

“Anyone running for office, including myself, knows we will face danger and we are aware of the danger of trying to make major changes in the country,” he said.

Moïse, 53, was a divisive figure in Haiti, and many opposition and civil society leaders had been calling for his resignation for more than a year. His flagship project, the subject of a referendum planned for this September, was a proposed reform of the Haitian constitution that would strengthen the executive branch, a change that critics feared would erode democracy, but that Moïse would argue was vital to leading change. significant in the country.

The question of who should currently rule is also clouded by discord and doubt. Days before his death, Moïse appointed neurosurgeon Ariel Henry as his new prime minister, which means that between Henry and the acting prime minister Joseph there are two possible claims for the position of prime minister. And there is an additional rival for the main leadership role: Reuters reports that Senate Leader Joseph Lambert was nominated Friday by fellow legislators to assume the presidency on an interim basis.

Meanwhile, Destin, the judge, says she received death threats from Haitians who believe the whole thing is a hoax and that Moïse is still alive, somewhere. “They accuse me of being part of the plot, they say they did not kill the president, but rather kidnapped him.”

In today’s atmosphere, you cannot afford to take these threats lightly, he said. “I have received anonymous calls from people who threaten me. As a judge, there really is no security plan to protect me … so I had to hide to protect myself and my family, my wife and my children.”

CNN’s Stefano Pozzebon contributed to this report.