The body of slain Haitian president Jovenel Mo？se will be laid to rest on Friday, more than two weeks after he was assassinated in a brazen late-night raid on his private residence in the hills of Port-au-Prince, the capital.
Support our journalism. Subscribe today. arrow-right
In the run-up to the funeral, there has been tension in Haiti as residents grapple with a killing that is still being investigated by police, with key elements of the plot still unclear.
In Haiti’s north, where Mo？se was born and where his funeral will be held, there were protests and unrest Wednesday evening as demonstrators set up roadblocks and demanded accountability for the killing of the president. The Associated Press reported that one man appeared to have been shot dead in Quartier-Morin, a commune outside of Cap-Ha？tien, the city where the funeral will be held.
Advertisement
Story continues below advertisement
Witnesses told the news agency that they saw burning tires and men with weapons demanding justice for Mo？se at barricades along the main road to Cap-Ha？tien, Haiti’s second-largest city. There were also reports of angry protests when National Police Chief Léon Charles visited Cap-Ha？tien earlier in the day.
Mo？se’s death marked an abrupt end to the political career of a man once known as “Neg Bannan nan” (“Banana Man” in Creole) for his place in northern Haiti’s farming community, where he worked as a banana exporter before joining politics in 2015.
Mo？se was born in Trou-du-Nord, 17 miles from Cap-Ha？tien. He graduated with a political science degree from the Université Quisqueya in Port-au-Prince, where he met his future wife.
Story continues below advertisement
A novice candidate who ran with the center-right Haitian Tet Kale Party, Mo？se only took office in 2017 after a challenging 14-month election process that saw violence and allegations of fraud. Once in office, he had been criticized by many in Haiti and the international community for delaying elections.
Advertisement
In the early hours of July 7, gunmen stormed into his home and shot him dead. Police have arrested more than 20 people, including two Haitian American citizens and several former Colombian soldiers, but the precise motive for the killing remains unclear.
The death of Mo？se also led to confusion about who would lead Haiti in the event of the president’s death, with three politicians claiming they were the rightful leader. On Tuesday, Ariel Henry was sworn in as the country’s new prime minister after the interim prime minister Claude Joseph agreed to step aside.
Mo？se’s widow, Martine Mo？se, made a surprise return to Haiti on Saturday after receiving medical treatment in Florida following injuries sustained in the attack that killed her husband.
Story continues below advertisement
She made a public appearance Wednesday at an event at the National Pantheon Museum in Port-au-Prince to commemorate her husband. She was accompanied by her three children, dressed in black and with her arm in a sling.
Advertisement
In a letter to the Haitian people posted on social media, Martine Mo？se thanked them for their sympathies and added that the funeral Friday would be paid for by the family rather than the public treasury.
“Your moral support gives the presidential family the courage to go through this great pain,” the first lady wrote.
A state funeral for Mo？se will be held at his family’s compound on the outskirts of Cap-Ha？tien, a historic city that was one of the centers of Haiti’s revolutionary movement. The nearby town of Milot served as an early capital for the post-revolution Haiti.
Read more:
Records reveal how Haitian American held in assassination probe financed a ‘personal security’ team
U.S. military once trained Colombians implicated in Haiti assassination plot, Pentagon says
A timeline of Haiti’s political turmoil in pictures