7th July 2021, for some, this date is just another summer day. But, for Haiti, this day is one of the worst days in history. The day when fuel was added to the fire with the help of an assassination. The day when Haiti’s overall downfall began.
A democratically elected President was assassinated. Jovenel Moise, who won the 2016 elections with a record 55% vote in Haiti was murdered at his official residence and an undeserving leader took his throne.
Haiti got mired in gang violence and instability. Today, the nation is collapsing and un-elected President Ariel Henry doesn’t give a damn about it. This is the story of one assassination, that has left Haiti in a position where recovery is next to impossible.
The story of Haiti’s downfall traces back to 2016, when the Haitian Presidential elections concluded. Following massive protests arising from the 2015 election, the runoff election originally scheduled to be held on 27 December 2015 was postponed several times, with the final one scheduled in October 2016.
In the elections, Jovenel Moise won by a record 55% vote. Yet, the unrest and dissatisfied Haitians delayed his appointment till 2017. Moise got appointed as President of Haiti at the very time when former US President Donald Trump came into power.
Things had just started to go out of hand here. While small unrests and sometimes killings were getting more visible in Haiti, 2019 became the very first year when alarm bells started to ring in Haiti.
The 2019 resignation saga
In 2019, Gangs rocked the capital of Port-Au Prince outside Haiti’s national palace and set fires on the streets to demand President Jovenel Moïse’s resignation. Meanwhile, President Trump invited him to Mar-a-Lago in 2019, posing cheerfully with him in one of the club’s ornate entryways.
Trump and the Republican party believed that backing Jovenel Moise, even though he is labeled as an autocrat or dictator is the best way out to control the crisis of Haiti. But, the American Democrat party had really different views about Moise.
Congressman Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, had alarmed congress, “Haiti’s a mess. The people are suffering. This has to stop!” Two members of Haitian civil society, a former U.S. ambassador to Haiti also pressurized Trump to change his course.
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The day of judgment
In 2021, when the Trump administration had left office, Joe Biden and the Democrats had taken his place. Early on, when Haiti’s mess was still getting worse.
Additionally, Moise had warned that his life was in danger right now. Biden hid the fact that he supports Moise. American actions, however, contradict everything President Biden said.
7th July 2021, Moise was assassinated in his official residence while riots broke out in Haiti. In the early hours, Biden did express solidarity with the late. Mr. Moise. However, a few weeks later, suspicions pointed out at Biden and company’s involvement behind this vicious activity.
Reports came out that Haiti president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by an ‘armed commando group’ which posed as members of the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
Several reports also claimed that the CIA was also linked to Moise’s assassination. As a replacement, Ariel Henry who himself was accused of assassination took Haiti’s helm of affairs in his hands.
The US keeps claiming that it constantly seeks to punish those responsible for Moise’s assassination. In this punishment episode, four more men have been charged. But alas, there has been no strict action against them.
Henry on the other hand wants to keep the power only to himself with the help of foreign intervention by US and Canada.
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Gangs have taken control of 60% of the Haitian capital. Haitians are leaving the island en-masse. The democracy is dead and all this happened because of one single assassination. Hard times require hard measures which clearly lacked by almost everyone involved in the saga. Everyone is as responsible as gangs for Haiti’s downfall.
