Mourners yesterday were set to offer their final farewell to Haiti’s slain president under tight security, just more than two weeks after his assassination rattled a country mired in poverty, corruption and political instability.
Haitian President Jovenel Moise, who was 53 when he was shot dead in his home in the early hours of July 7, is to be interred in Cap-Haitien, the main city in his native northern region.
According to the official program, the funeral would begin in the morning and last for several hours, with large screens set up for mourners to follow the event.
Photo: AFP
Moise’s widow was expected to be joined at the event by the late president’s relatives, Cabinet members and current and former senior government officials, as well as religious figures and representatives of trade unions and civil society groups.
Cap-Haitien was calm on Thursday, but a day earlier clashes broke out when Haitian Police Chief Leon Charles visited. He was booed and heckled while inspecting security arrangements for the funeral.
Local residents blame him for not protecting Moise, whose wife Martine was seriously wounded in the gun attack, seemingly carried out by a group of mainly Colombian retired soldiers — with no injuries to the presidential guard.
So far, more than 20 people have been arrested, most of them Colombians, and police say the plot was organized by Haitians with political ambitions and links outside the country.
The case remains murky, with many unanswered questions.
Haitians have expressed shock that those tasked with protecting the president and his home failed him so abjectly. The impoverished Caribbean nation is riddled with crime and powerful gangs — problems that were exacerbated during Moise’s presidency.
His death has rekindled long-standing tensions between the north of Haiti and the west, which in part stems from historic racial divisions dating back to French colonialism between northern blacks who are descendants of slaves and lighter-skinned Haitians of mixed race living in the south and west.
Some residents have even set up barricades on roads leading to Cap-Haitien to keep people from the capital, Port-au-Prince, from attending the funeral.
“We are going to do everything we can to honor him the way he deserves, in line with his importance for our city,” Cap-Haitien Mayor Yvrose Pierre said.
A Catholic mass was held for Moise on Thursday at the city’s cathedral, followed by a procession in his honor.
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