The President of Haiti Jovenel Moise has been killed by gun shot wound after a group of unidentified individuals attacked his private residence on Wednesday.
According to the country’s interim prime minister Claude Joseph, The First Lady was also attacked but sustained serious injury.
While the streets of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, were quiet Wednesday morning, some people ransacked businesses in one area. Authorities closed the international airport and declared a “state of siege.” The country appeared to be heading for fresh volatility ahead of planned general elections later this year.
Moise, 53, had been ruling by decree for more than a year after the country failed to hold elections and the opposition demanded he step down in recent months.
The president faced large protests in recent months that turned violent as opposition leaders and their supporters rejected his plans to hold a constitutional referendum with proposals that would strengthen the presidency.
In recent months, opposition leaders demanded that he step down, arguing that his term legally ended in February 2021. Moise and supporters maintained that his term began when he took office in early 2017, following a chaotic election that forced the appointment of a provisional president to serve during a year-long gap.
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