Widow of Haiti’s Assassinated Leader Vows to Find His Killers
Widow of Haiti’s Assassinated Leader Vows to Find His Killers
(Bloomberg) -- Haiti’s slain President Jovenel Moise was laid to rest Friday amid pomp and security scares, as the troubled nation is wracked by violent unrest two weeks after his assassination.
Speaking at the funeral in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, Moise’s widow, Martine, demanded justice for her husband and said the people who ordered his murder remain at large.
“They are there looking at us and listening to us and they hope to make us afraid,” Martine Moise said of her husband’s killers. “Their blood-lust is not over yet.”
Police have arrested more than 20 people over the assassination, mostly former Colombian soldiers, but it’s still unclear who ultimately gave them their orders.
Cap-Haitien, the nation’s second-city, remained on high alert after protesters burned tires and blocked roads Thursday. At the outdoor ceremony, uniformed Haitian officers stood by Moise’s flag-draped coffin as bodyguards in flak jackets and carrying automatic weapons scanned the crowd.
Responding to reports of gunshots near the event, the U.S. State Department said the American delegation was “safe and accounted for”. The White House said in a statement that the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security are providing investigative assistance to the Haitian authorities as they seek to hold accountable those responsible for the assassination.
Prime Minister Henry Ariel was also forced to issue a statement late Thursday denying that his convoy had been “ambushed” on one of Cap-Haitien’s main roads.
Henry, a 71-year-old neurosurgeon, has been leading the country since Tuesday, after the president’s murder July 7 ago led to an internal power struggle.
Moise, 53, was killed and his wife was wounded in a brazen attack on their home on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
“They plotted against you and sentenced you to death,” Martine Moise said, her arm still in a sling from the gunshot wounds she received. She ended her eulogy with a renewed pledge to seek justice.
“Go in peace, my love,” she said. “Go with the feeling of accomplishment. We will do the rest.”
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