PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 7 (Reuters) – Haitian President Jovenel Moise was shot dead by gunmen with assault rifles in his private residence overnight on Wednesday, sparking fears of a further descent into chaos in the impoverished Caribbean nation as a manhunt got underway.
The assassination, which drew condemnation from Washington and neighboring Latin American countries, came amid political unrest, a surge in gang violence and a growing humanitarian crisis in the poorest nation in the Americas.
The government declared a two-week state of emergency to help it hunt down the killers whom Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Bocchit 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 the leadership of the country, where the majority speak French or Haitian Creole. “My compatriots – remain calm because the situation is under control,” Joseph said in a televised address to the nation, backed by a row of somber-faced officials. “This blow has wounded this country, this nation, but it will not go unpunished.”
People’s News Monitoring Service
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