By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, Thurs. July 8, 2021: While condemning the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise on Wednesday, the US insisted the country should still proceed with elections in September.
“It is still the view of the United States that elections this year should proceed,” Ned Price, the US State Department spokesperson said at a briefing Wednesday afternoon. “We know that free and fair elections are the democratic path towards ending Haiti’s irregular and prolonged rule by decree and restoring its parliament, which as of now has lapsed. Free and fair presidential elections will facilitate a peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected president as well.”
The United States also called on all political parties, civil society groups, and stakeholders to – like Acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph – call for calm and to work together in the wake of this tragedy to ensure peace and democratic governance.
“What we know and what we will continue to do is to preserve Haiti’s democratic institutions,” the State Department spokesman said. “We know that by preserving Haiti’s democratic institutions, that is key to restoring peace.”
And the US shot down a report that its DEA had anything to do with the assassination and urged Haitian authorities to bring those responsible to justice.
“Well, as you said, the Haitian ambassador himself has dismissed these allegations,” Price stated. “These reports are absolutely false. The United States condemns this heinous act. These false reports are nothing more than that, just false reports.”
“The United States strongly condemns, as you heard from President Biden earlier today, the assassination of President Jovenel Moise and the attack on First Lady Martine Moise in Haiti,” the Department’s spokesman added. “We extend our deepest condolences to President Moise’s family and his loved ones and to the people of Haiti in the midst of this tragedy.”
US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Acting Haitian Prime Minister Claude Joseph and also extended condolences to the family and loved ones of President Moïse and to the people of Haiti.
The Secretary also expressed the United States’ wishes for First Lady Martine Moïse’s recovery. Secretary Blinken reiterated the United States’ continued commitment to work with the Government of Haiti in support of the Haitian people and democratic governance, peace, and security.
ONLY SECOND LEADER TO BE KILLED IN OFFICE
President Moise is only the second Caribbean leader to be murdered while in office in recent years and the first President. The first was Prime Minister Maurice Bishop of Grenada in 1983. A four-man People’s Revolutionary Army firing squad executed Bishop, three members of his Cabinet and four others by machine-gunning them. After he was dead, a gunman slit his throat and cut off his finger to steal his ring. The bodies were then transported to a military camp and partially burned in a pit. The location of their remains is still unknown.
