President Mose's killing leaves Haiti less stable but as elitist as ever
Natalie Meade
Any reform after the assassination of Jovenel Moïse will depend on the US re-evaluating its interests in the country
Fri 23 Jul 2021 06.20 EDT
The assassination of Jovenel Moïse, Haiti’s president, marks another point in the years-long power struggle that pitted his loyalists against activists and working-class families, exhausted by years of social strife and gang violence. On Saturday, his wife Martine Moïse, injured in the attack, returned home to the Caribbean state to face speculation about her own political career. Meanwhile, the authorities still search for the motive for her husband’s killing.
At least 20 people have now been arrested in connection with the murder, including Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian-American self-proclaimed pastor who lives in South Florida, and who allegedly issued the order for the assassination. According to reporting by the Washington Post, Sanon had ambitions to become president of his homeland. He had vowed to transform the country into a “free and open society” with an ambitious $83bn redevelopment plan for Haiti. His defenders say, however, a plot to kill Moïse was never part of the masterplan.
On 7 July, Moïse was shot 16 times after a break-in at his home. The attack was allegedly carried out by Colombian ex-military personnel and two Haitian-Americans. However, reports suggest that the two Haitian-Americans (one of whom was a former DEA informant) were unaware that Joseph Felix Badio, a former official in Haiti’s justice ministry and named by police as another suspect, had allegedly given an order to kill President Moïse. Badio’s whereabouts are currently unknown.
. . .
The economy of Haiti is controlled by a handful of elite families who prospered under the Duvalier regime. Before Moïse was killed, gangs that supported him cordoned off some of Haiti’s most fertile land owned by the elites who profit while the working class starves. According to the World Bank, “The richest 20% of its population holds more than 64% of its total wealth, while the poorest 20% hold hardly 1%.”
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/23/president-jovenel-moise-haiti-elitist-assassination