Martine Moise appeals Haiti not to “lose its way”

Haitian president wife Martine Moise made her first remarks after her husband assassination through an audio message, saying the attack that killed her husband happened “in the blink of an eye”.

Sunday, 11th July 2021

Haiti: Haitian president wife Martine Moise made her first remarks after her husband assassination through an audio message, saying the attack that killed her husband happened “in the blink of an eye”. She appealed to Haiti not to “lose its way” after the attack that left her critically injured. In her Creole audio message, Martine Moise said, “I am alive, thanks to God,”, which Haiti’s minister of culture and communications, Pradel Henriquez, verified to the AFP news agency as being true. “I am alive but I have lost my husband Jovenel,” she emphesised. Notably, President of Caribbean country Jovenel Moise, 53, was shot by armed gunmen in the early hours of Wednesday in what Haitian officials said was “a highly coordinated attack by an extremely trained and massively armed group”. Haiti declared a fifteen-day “state of siege” in the immediate aftermath of his killing, swearing to bring the perpetrators to justice. Haitian officials said an armed commando of 28 men – 26 Colombians and two Haitian-Americans – burst in and started fire on the couple in their home. 17 people have been arrested till now by authorities, and at least three suspects were killed, but no motive has been made public. After the attack, Martine Moise was moved to a Haitian hospital and was later evacuated to Miami, Florida, for further treatment. “In the blink of an eye, the mercenaries entered my home & riddled my husband with bullets … without even providing him a chance to say a word,” she said in the audio message. She further pointed out that the mercenaries were sent to kill her husband “because of roads, water, electricity & referendum as well as elections at the last of the year so that there is no transition in the country”. “I am crying, it is true, but we cannot let the nation lose its way,” Martine Moise noted. “We cannot let his blood have been dropped in vain.”