Political Unrest and the Assassination of the President in Haiti
Earlier today, Haiti's President, Jovenel Moïse, was just shot and killed in his home in Port-au-Prince. However, while this news shocked the country, it was not out of the blue, but rather stemmed from growing political unrest and disapproval of President Moïse's actions. Moïse was elected back in 2016 and had been in power since then, however, as his term neared an end Moïse had refused to step down due to logistical issues involving a provisional presidency that granted him another year in office.
These actions picked a bone with the Haitian people who have had a negative relationship with the government for years, having suffered through many dictatorships in the past and even recently having to deal with a selfish government focusing on helping themselves and abandoning the Haitian people to deal with the fallout of the earthquake. That anger boiled over into the form of mass protests demanding the removal of Moïse from power, but the longer Moïse refused to step down the more it began to feel like history repeating itself in Haiti.
Moïse's killers are still unidentified, at the moment only known to Spanish-speaking, but in the coming days, it will be interesting to see what group is behind the attack and if it truly was a direct response to Moïse refusing to give up his power. Prime Minister Claude Joseph is set to assume power as a result of Moïse's death, but many fear the transition of power could be messy and result in even more chaos throughout the country. With many democratic institutions in Haiti having collapsed over the years it's evident the country is going to have to change from its current course and establish proper elections with checks and balances on the government because their current form of "democracy" is out of control and only looks to be leading down a similar path of dictatorship that the country has seen before.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/15/down-with-the-dictatorship-protests-continue-in-haiti
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/haitian-president-jovenel-mo-se-assassinated-first-lady-injured-attack-n1273202
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/07/world/jovenel-moise-assassinated-killed
Jackson, in the month of Bastille Day, your blog theme was the voice of the people being expressed in Haiti (and later South Africa). You identify the root causes in both cases as the failures of democracy- corruption exploiting the system. The Moise case is very interesting; in addition to much coming out since the assassination, he was delayed a year from taking office; his contention was that he has four years to serve and that term did not start until he was put into office (his first year was a battle ver the legitimacy of his election- sound familar?). The Supreme Court chief justice passed away just weeks before Moise's assassination and I believe the Prime Minister had submitted his resignation just days before the assassination. You are correct that Haiti has had a troubled past with its leaders and today's circumstances are no different. In the midst of this constitutional quagmire (who has the legitimate right to rule), Haiti has called for international help (and many have criticized the role/intervention of foreign powers. Unfortunately real people, real citizens, with real needs are left struggling for life's basic necessities.
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