President Biden is condemning the assassination of Haiti’s president Wednesday, vowing that the US stands “ready to assist” in the wake of the murder.
In a statement, the US commander-in-chief said the nation was “shocked and saddened to hear of the horrific assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the attack on First Lady Martine Moïse of Haiti.
“We condemn this heinous act, and I am sending my sincere wishes for First Lady Moïse’s recovery,” the statement continued, “The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti.”
Speaking to reporters Wednesday morning as he boarded Air Force One, the commander-in-chief added, “We need a lot more information but it is very worrisome about the state of Haiti.”
The Moïses were gunned down in their home, located in the impoverished Caribbean nation’s capital of Port-au-Prince, at about 1 a.m. local time Wednesday.
The president, who did not survive, was 53.
Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who revealed news of the attack, said that the first lady was shot during the ambush.
Moïse, he said, “was wounded by a bullet and the necessary measures are being taken.”
Joseph also said that he was now in charge of the country.
Calling it a “hateful, inhumane and barbaric act,” Joseph revealed of the attack that, “an unidentified group of individuals, some of whom were speaking in Spanish, attacked the private residence of the President of the Republic and mortally wounded him.”
The primary languages in the Caribbean nation of more than 11 million people are French and Haitian Creole.
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The gunmen claimed to be agents with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Miami Herald reported.
But sources told the paper that the assailants, one of whom spoke English with an American accent, were not with the American agency.
The brazen attack happened a day after Moïse named a new prime minister, Ariel Henry, to prepare the nation for elections in the next two months for president, a new parliament and local government officials.
The killing comes amid deepening political and economic instability and a spike in gang violence in the poorest country in the Americas. It also comes as the nation of more than 11 million people had grown increasingly unstable and disgruntled under the late president’s rule.
Moïse, who entered office in 2017, had been ruling by decree since January 2020 after legislative elections due in 2018 were delayed in the wake of disputes, including over when his own term ends, according to Agence France-Presse.
Opposition leaders have accused Moïse of seeking to increase his power, including approving a decree that limited the powers of a court that audits government contracts and another that created an intelligence agency controlled by the president.
The opposition has also demanded that he step down, arguing that his term legally ended in February.
Moïse and supporters maintained that his term began when he took office in early 2017, following a chaotic election that forced the appointment of a provisional leader to serve during a year-long gap.
He faced steep pushback from large segments of the population that deemed his mandate illegitimate — and he churned through seven prime ministers in four years.
Joseph was supposed to be replaced this week after only three months in the post.
These troubles come as Haiti still tries to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew that swept through in 2016.
In addition to the political crisis, kidnappings for ransom have spiked in recent months, further reflecting the growing influence of armed gangs in the country.
Its economic, political and social woes have also deepened, with gang violence increasing heavily in Port-au-Prince, inflation spiraling and food and fuel becoming scarcer at times in a country where 60 percent of the population makes less than $2 a day.
President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic condemned the assassination and ordered the “immediate closure” of its border with Haiti.
“This crime undermines the democratic order of Haiti and the region. Our condolences to his family and the Haitian people,” Abinader said in a statement.
Additional reporting by Yaron Steinbuch and Post wires