Haiti police hunt down president's assassins

Four mercenaries declared dead after brazen slaying deepens nation's chaos

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti－Police officers were on Thursday hunting for more of the gunmen behind the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise, with the nation under a state of siege.

Security forces engaged in a fierce shootout with assailants in the capital Port-au-Prince early on Wednesday after the overnight attack on the president's private residence.

The police had killed four of the "mercenaries" and captured two more, Police General Director Leon Charles said late on Wednesday, adding that security forces would not rest until they had all been dealt with. "We blocked them en route as they left the scene of the crime," he said. "Since then, we have been battling with them. They will be killed or apprehended."

Moise, a 53-year-old former businessman who took office in 2017, was shot dead and his wife, Martine Moise, was seriously wounded when heavily armed assassins stormed the couple's home at around 1 am.

Haiti's ambassador to the United States, Bocchit Edmond, said in an interview that the gunmen had masqueraded as US Drug Enforcement Administration agents as they entered Moise's guarded residence under the cover of nightfall－a move that would likely have helped them gain entry.

The brazen assassination drew condemnation from the United Nations Security Council, the US and some neighboring countries.

The UN Security Council condemned the assassination and called on all parties to "remain calm, exercise restraint and to avoid any act that could contribute to further instability".

The US is Haiti's top aid donor and has long exerted an outsized influence in its politics.

US President Joe Biden denounced the killing as "heinous" and called the situation in Haiti－which lies nearly 1,100 kilometers off the Florida coast－worrisome. The Dominican Republic closed the border it shares with Haiti on the island of Hispaniola and beefed up security.

State of emergency

The Pan American Health Organization expressed concern on Wednesday that the violence could deal a setback to efforts to fight COVID-19 in Haiti－one of only a handful of countries worldwide that have yet to administer a single shot of coronavirus vaccine.

The government declared a two-week state of emergency to help it hunt down the assassins, whom Edmond described as a group of "foreign mercenaries" and well-trained killers.

The gunmen spoke English and Spanish, said interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who assumed leadership of the country, where most speak French or Haitian Creole.

The first lady had been flown to Florida for treatment where she was in a stable condition, Joseph said.

Haiti, a country of about 11 million people, has struggled to achieve stability in recent decades, and has grappled with a series of coups and foreign interventions.

In recent years, Haiti has been buffeted by a series of natural disasters and still bears the scars of a major earthquake in 2010.

Many people in Haiti had wanted Moise to leave office. Ever since he took over in 2017, he faced calls to resign and mass protests－first over corruption allegations and his management of the economy, then over his increasing grip on power.

With the country politically polarized and facing growing hunger, fears of a breakdown in order are spreading.

Moise's murder came amid a power vacuum. The banana exporter-turned-politician had ruled by decree for more than a year after the country failed to hold legislative elections. There are only 10 elected officials in the Haitian government, all of them senators.

Just this week, he nominated a prime minister to replace Joseph－who was only meant to be an interim premier－but the official has yet to be sworn in. The head of the Supreme Court of Justice died last month of COVID-19 amid a worrying surge in infections and has yet to be replaced.

Agencies - Xinhua