Haitian President Michel Martelly, who was recovering in a Miami hospital on Wednesday from a blood clot in his lung, condemned the gunmen who stormed and briefly occupied the lower chamber of parliament in Haiti’s capital a day earlier.
No shots were fired and no injuries reported during the tense incident that cut short the Chamber of Deputies’ session on Tuesday. The intruders left the chamber without firing any shots.
Former soldiers and other gunmen drove to the parliament building in buses and trucks and blocked the exit, chanting slogans and calling for legislators to restore Haiti’s disbanded army. The intruders wore military uniforms and some carried hand grenades, the president of the Chamber of Deputies said.
From a Miami hospital where he is recovering from a blood clot in the lung caused by recent shoulder surgery, Martelly condemned the intruders and called for calm.
“The presidency wants order and public peace to be maintained throughout the national territory and reminds all once again that the constitution of a new public force can only be done in an orderly manner with discipline and with respect to the law,” he said in a prepared statement.
He said violators would be prosecuted with the full rigor of the law.
Martelly flew to Miami on Monday to have tests for pulmonary embolism, the sudden blockage of an artery in the lung.
He was in stable condition and “evolving well,” the Haitian government said on Wednesday.
It did not say when Martelly planned to return home.
Martelly, 51, had canceled plans to attend the Summit of the Americas last weekend in Cartagena, Colombia. The decision came two weeks after he had surgery on his right shoulder in Miami.
The statement said Martelly was in regular contact with his Cabinet and other officials in Haiti.
Haiti’s army was disbanded in 1995 by then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide after a series of military coups.
In recent months, several thousand former soldiers and aspiring soldiers have occupied government buildings and former army camps in defiance of government orders to leave.
It was unclear how many were involved in the incident at parliament. Martelly’s statement referred to “tens,” but the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Levaillant Louis-Jeune, estimated the number at 300.
“We want a clear explanation from the government on what happened,” Louis-Jeune said. “We want to know how a band of armed outlaws could be allowed to take to the streets and invade our workspace. ... They are operating freely and openly under the eyes of the authorities and they are not doing anything to stop it.”
He said the chamber would not meet in session again until it received an adequate explanation. He said UN peacekeepers arrived on the scene and surrounded the building, but did not take action against the intruders.
UN troops have acted as peacekeepers in the volatile Caribbean nation on and off since 1994. The head of the UN mission, known by the acronym MINUSTAH, condemned what he called an “unacceptable act of intimidation” of elected officials and said parliamentarians had acted wisely in allowing a peaceful resolution.
Peacekeepers have strengthened security around parliament to deter further attempts at intimidation, according to the head of the mission, Mariano Fernandez Amunategui.
“MINUSTAH supports the Haitian authorities in their efforts to advance the rule of law and democracy,” he said.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
RSS