Wednesday (July 7th): Haiti President Moïse Assassinated

Jovenel Moïse

Name? Jovenel Moïse

Westphalian identity? Haitian

Age? 53

Why is he in the news? Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by a group of highly trained intruders early this morning. Fun fact, on Monday, Moïse had planned to replace current Prime Minister Joseph, the 7th prime minister in four years of Moïse’s rule, Joseph is now in charge of the country as interim. 

Why do we care? Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas and has been insatiable since the horrific earthquake in 2010. Even the billions in aid could not rebuild the country and actually only made it worse through mismanagement and corruption. Haiti has since become an island of instability with militant gangs fighting each other and the government making the security situation one of the worst in the world.

Why should you care? How many times have you thought about Haiti since the earthquake in 2010? Did you know the name Moïse before? Not really, right? We are adding another country to the long list of countries that we should care about but do not always have the resources to. So representing the Yemens and Venezuelas of the world, you should care 7/10 about the situation in Haiti. 

Who else cares? Luis Abinader, the President of the Dominican Republic. As Haiti’s only direct neighbour, Abinader immediately closed borders to the country to avoid a spillover of potential chaos when he heard about the assassination of Moïse.

Any further comments? Let’s get to the juicy part you are here for: Groundless speculations over who killed Moïse. It could have been one of the many criminal gangs in Haiti fighting the government but sources indicate that the attackers were too well equipped for Haitians and spoke English and Spanish… IF this was orchestrated by a foreign power, we are talking serious business here… BUT the mercenaries may have been paid by the opposition as well. So let’s keep on speculating…?

Joshua Dario Hasenstab

General Coordinator