On Tuesday, the Haitian National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH), a non-governmental organisation, released a report alleging that the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse on July 7 was carried out with the support of individuals within his security team. The report also suggested that Prime Minister (PM) Ariel Henry may have been in on the plot, pointing to a call between him and former civil servant Felix Badio, who has been accused of being one of the masterminds behind the assassination.
RNDDH claims that Moïse could not have been killed without the support of Jean Laguel Civil and Dimitri Hérard, the divisional commissioner and municipal commissioner in charge of presidential security. The report posits that Hérard provided weapons, tear gas, grenades, and electric saws, while Laguel bribed other agents on the presidential security team.
In fact, a few weeks prior to the assassination, Hérard suspiciously ordered the removal of a vehicle with weapons and ammunition from the courtyard of the presidential residence. This would hardly be Hérard’s first run-in with the law either. In fact, he has been a suspect in a United Stars Drug Enforcement Administration case for years. Therefore, it is no surprise that he is currently detained in custody in relation to the assassination.
Moïse’s wife, Martine, has claimed that her husband called Hérard as the assailants entered the residence and asked for help. However, his pleas went unanswered, as the municipal commissioner failed to deploy a hit squad and only erected a roadblock a few blocks away from the residence.
Moreover, some security officers who then “cornered” several of the suspected attackers in a nearby house said they saw Hérard speaking to the mercenaries on the phone and urging them to surrender, but were unsure how he had gained access to their phone numbers.
Therefore, while the official narrative has been to label this as a coup attempt, even PM Henry has said that the “true motive” is yet to be discovered. Moreover, only the president and his wife were shot by bullets, despite officials claiming that the ground both within and surrounding the residence was “littered with cartridge cases,” drawing even further suspicion.
It is perhaps this suspicion that has pushed RNDDH to also call for the resignation of Henry, saying that his presence poses a “major obstacles in the search for justice.” In an interview with Voice of America, Haitian lawyer and human rights activist Marie Rosy Auguste Ducéna accused the national police and the prime minister of complicity in the event. She said that Badio, a former Justice Ministry official who has a warrant out for his arrest, spoke with PM Henry on the phone at least twice, including on the day that Moïse was killed.
Ducéna said, “I’d like to underline that there are 647 police officers whose principal mission is to protect the president. We can say they failed, since the president was assassinated.” She added, “Secondly, there were 63 agents detailed to provide security for the president, and they had backup agents whose responsibility it was to secure the perimeter of the president's residence. However, they allowed the commandos to gain access to the home. Why? Because they had been paid off.”
At this stage, at least 44 people have been arrested in connection with Moïse’s death, including 18 former Colombian soldiers, 20 Haitian police officers, and three naturalised American citizens.
Parallel to the RNDDH’s independent report, Magistrate Bernard Saint-Vil, the dean of the Court of First Instance in Port-au-Prince, has appointed judge Garry Orélien to oversee the investigation into Moïse’ assassination. Curiously, Orélien was appointed to the role after another judge, Mathieu Chanlatte, resigned from overseeing the case on August 13 due to “personal reasons.” However, there could have been more at play in his resignation, given that he stepped down just one day after one of his assistants died under “unclear circumstances.”
The Haitian government has also requested the help of the United Nations in conducting an international investigation.
On July 7, Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, 53, was assassinated at his residence in Port-au-Prince. Subsequently, interim PM Claude Joseph agreed to step down to allow PM-designate Ariel Henry to take over.
On August 14, Haiti was struck by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, with the death toll now over 2,000 and more than 500 people missing. At least 6,000 people are injured and thousands have been displaced, with authorities estimating that 13,694 homes were destroyed and 13,785 homes were damaged, leaving 30,000 families homeless.
Furthermore, roughly 60% of Haiti’s population makes less than $2 a day and the country’s economy contracted by 3.8% in 2020.
Therefore, a combination of political upheaval, natural disasters, and economic deterioration has left an already country reeling and pushed it into the throes of a potentially unmanageable disaster.
New Report Claims Haitian PM Henry Was Complicit in President Moïse’s Assassination
While the official narrative has been to label this as a coup attempt, several experts have claimed that there is more to the story and that the true motive has yet to be discovered.
August 26, 2021
IMAGE SOURCE: MATIAS DELACROIX / PICTURE ALLIANCEHaitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry