Jovenel Moïse, President of the Republic of Haiti, has been assassinated in his private residence, according to an official statement by Prime Minister Claude Joseph.
The Prime Minister claimed that Moïse had been killed by an “armed commando group” that included foreign elements.
“Around one o’clock in the morning, during the night of Tuesday 6 to Wednesday 7 July 2021, a group of unidentified individuals, including some speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the president and fatally injured the head of state,” Joseph detailed.
The presidency of Jovenel Moïse, a former businessman widely considered to be a pro-US ruler, has been marred with allegations of corruption, abuse of government funds and disagreements on the extent of his presidential term. Since 2019, protests and conflicts have been erupting across the country, after the Moïse administration failed to hold legislative elections and decided to rule by decree.
Unrest was also fueled by the high poverty rate plaguing the country, rising fuel prices and taxes, and a massive corruption scandal that saw freed-up funds resulting from a generous Venezuelan petroleum export program disappear in the pockets of government officials.
