Haiti President Jovenel Moise assassinated

The story: In a shocking incident, Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in an attack on his residence, plunging the unstable Caribbean nat

Haiti President Jovenel Moise assassinated

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• The story: In a shocking incident, Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in an attack on his residence, plunging the unstable Caribbean nation into fresh political turmoil. A group of assailants entered the residence and shot the president and wounded the first lady (now hospitalized). This was informed by the Prime Minister Claude Joseph.
• Who were they: The PM said the attackers spoke Spanish but remained unidentified. Haiti is a French-speaking country, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, roiled by violent protests, economic contraction brought by the pandemic and security concerns. Interestingly, Haiti was the first nation ever to successfully gain independence through a slave revolt (in 1803).
• President Moïse: He was narrowly elected in 2016, and refused to leave office in February, arguing that his term lasted another year. Opposition leaders accused Mr. Moïse of turning into an autocrat. The 53-year-old president, a former banana plantation manager, also launched an effort to rewrite Haiti’s Constitution to give the presidency more power. The changes would allow the president to run for a second term, greater control over the armed forces and legal immunity from actions taken while in office. He postponed a referendum due in late June '21 on a new constitution amid rising criticism, including from the U.S. The referendum was postponed until September, when new presidential elections are scheduled.
• Story of Haiti: The name Haiti comes from the indigenous Taíno language, for the entire island of Hispaniola, and means "land of high mountains. The island of Hispaniola, of which Haiti occupies the western three-eighths, has been inhabited since about 5000 BC by groups of Native Americans.

1. Navigator Christopher Columbus landed in Haiti on 6 December 1492, leaving soon thereafter, but infecting the entire local population with smallpox disese (endemic to Europe but not found in the island) leading to mass deaths. The Spanish controlled the island, exploited the locals, and later focused on main South America to exploit its riches. The French decisively moved in by 1697 and a whole slave culture was created. But inspired by the French Revolution of 1789 and principles of the rights of man, the French settlers and free people of color pressed for greater political freedom and more civil rights.
2. The slaves continued their fight for independence, led by generals Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and managed to decisively defeat the French troops at the Battle of Vertières on 18 November 1803, establishing the first nation ever to successfully gain independence through a slave revolt. Fearful of the impact the slave rebellion could have in the slave states, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson refused to recognize the new republic.  
3. After a very long period of regime changes, the United States occupation of Haiti began on July 28, 1915, when President Woodrow Wilson ordered taking control of Haiti's political and financial interests. The invasion and occupation followed years of socioeconomic instability within Haiti, and ended on August 1, 1934, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt reaffirmed an August 1933 disengagement agreement. Two major rebellions occurred during this period resulting in several thousand Haitians killed and numerous human rights violations – including torture and summary executions – by United States Marines and the gendarmerie.
4. Jean-Bertrand Aristide later became Haiti's first democratically elected president in the 1990–91 Haitian general election, with 67% of the vote, until a September 1991 military coup, which collapsed in 1994 under U.S. pressure, and Aristide was president again from 1994 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2004. He was ousted again in the 2004 coup d'état after right-wing ex-army paramilitaries invaded from across the Dominican border. He returned to Haiti in 2011 after seven years in exile. Jovenel Moïse was a Haitian entrepreneur who served as the president from 2017 until his assassination in 2021.
5. It is a unitary semi-presidential republic, where the president is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government. It has been historically unstable due to various coup d'états, regime changes, military juntas and conflicts.
6. The government of Haiti is a semi-presidential republic, a multiparty system wherein the President of Haiti is head of state elected directly by popular elections, and the PM acts as head of government and is appointed by the President, chosen from the majority party in the National Assembly.
7. Haiti has been increasingly unstable in the past few years. Its economy shrank amid rising lawlessness and gang violence in communities. The country has had six prime ministers over the past four years.

 

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