The late President Moïse (above) was not uncontroversial during this time in office. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
By Sophie Soloway ’23
Global Editor
Jovenel Moïse, the president of Haiti, was assassinated in his Port-au-Prince home on July 7. In the weeks since his assassination — which investigators and the country’s Prime Minister have deemed “highly coordinated” — the country has seen mass mobilization and deep division.
Over two dozen arrests have been made since the assassination, although little has been shared regarding the suspects’ individual roles. On Tuesday, July 27, United States federal agents issued search warrants for suspects in Miami-Dade County and Broward County, Florida. The connection between these suspects and the late president remains unclear.
Haiti has long been a site of political strife and state violence, especially since the government announced its plan to cut subsidies in 2018, thereby increasing fuel prices for citizens by up to 50 percent. A year later, the country’s government declared a state of economic emergency, further motivating citizens to protest corruption at the highest levels.
Throughout this four year period of civil unrest, Haiti’s government has often been accused of retaliating disproportionately against those suspected of dissent. Human rights watchdog organizations, such as Amnesty International, have repeatedly published their own findings that excessive force has been used against protestors; as the country appears to reenter a period of mass protest, many in the country fear these trends will persist.
The late President Moïse was not uncontroversial during this time in office. In fact, Moïse had been governing by decree since dissolving the majority of parliament in January 2020. Since then, countless protestors and leaders had called for his resignation, to no avail.
In the aftermath of the president’s assassination, Haitian leaders and citizens are scrambling to understand what path the country will take. Haiti’s newly sworn-in Prime Minister Ariel Henry has announced plans to form a temporary government in the coming months.