Haiti: Martine Moïse, widow of the assassinated president, calls for the continuation of the “battle” of her husband

Published on : 07/11/2021 – 07:33

The First Lady of Haiti, Martine Moïse, injured Wednesday by the murderers of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, called on Saturday July 11 to continue the “battle” waged by her husband in a country plunged into chaos that many Haitians seek to flee.

“I am alive,” she said in Creole in an audio message on Twitter, her first public intervention since the attack. “I am alive but I lost my husband, Jovenel”, she adds in this recording authenticated for AFP by the Haitian Minister of Culture and Communication, Pradel Henriquez.

Jovenel Moïse was killed in his residence on Wednesday around 1 a.m. (5 a.m. GMT) by an armed commando group of 28 men (26 Colombians and two Americans of Haitian origin), of whom 17 were arrested by the police and three killed .

Injured, the First Lady was treated in a local hospital before being evacuated by plane to Miami. She was “out of danger” on Wednesday evening, according to interim Haitian Prime Minister Claude Joseph.

“In the blink of an eye, the mercenaries entered my house and they riddled my husband with bullets (…) without even giving him the chance to say a single word”, says Martine Moïse in her message.

According to the judge in charge of the case, quoted by the local press, the remains of the Haitian president was found with 12 bullet holes and his office and his room were ransacked.

One of the presidential couple’s children, Jomarlie, was at his parents’ home at the time of the attack but the attack hid in a bedroom, magistrate Carl Henry Destin told Le Nouvelliste newspaper.

“I will not abandon you”

The president of the poorest country in the Americas was fighting, says his widow, for “roads, water and electricity, the referendum and the elections scheduled for the end of the year.”

These elections, with growing insecurity, crystallized the unpopularity of Jovenel Moïse with his compatriots. The presidential and legislative elections, postponed several times, were to take place on September 26 for the first round and on November 21 for the second.

Jovenel Moïse “has always believed in institutions and stability”, assures his wife in his audio message on Saturday. “It’s a battle he was fighting for us, we must continue.”

“I will not abandon you”, also says Martine Moïse, who promises to soon participate in a live exchange on Facebook.

The assassination of Jovenel Moïse worsened the institutional crisis in which Haiti was already plunged.

Claude Joseph, Prime Minister since April, declared himself in charge of current affairs. But its legitimacy is called into question by the appointment of Ariel Henry as head of government by President Moïse two days before his death.

In the capital Port-au-Prince, activities timidly resumed Saturday in the streets, deserted for two days for fear of violence, the country being plagued by gangs.

But far from the usual frenzy, it is the fear that reigned within the population after this crime in the circumstances and the motive still very vague.

“Seeking a better life elsewhere”

More than 200 people wanting to flee their country flocked to the United States Embassy on Saturday in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince.

“If the president can be assassinated in this way, it is not me, a simple citizen, that will be spared. I am obliged to seek asylum to seek a better life elsewhere,” Louis Limage told AFP.

Passports and other various documents in hand, the demonstrators motivate their advocacy by evoking the structural difficulties of Haiti.

“Our country really offers us nothing socio-economically. As a great world power, the United States offers opportunities to people in need. We are looking for work to support our families,” said Smith. Remolian.

The Haitian government asked the United States on Friday to send troops to Haiti, to help secure strategic sites. A senior US administration official told AFP that option was not planned at this stage.

First black republic in history, Haiti was undermined by political instability and then marked by nearly three decades of the dictatorship of Duvalier, father and son. This Caribbean country has not seen its economy prosper and 60% of its population lives below the poverty line.

With AFP