Attempted coup foiled in Haiti: justice minister
Haitian authorities said Sunday that they had foiled an effort to murder President Jovenel Moise and overthrow the federal government, as a dispute rages above when his term ends.
The plot was an “attempted coup d’etat,” according to Justice Minister Rockefeller Vincent, with authorities saying at least 23 persons have already been arrested, including a top judge and the official from the national police.
“I thank my mind of security at the palace. The purpose of these persons was to create an attempt on my life,” Moise said.
“That method was aborted,” he added, speaking about the tarmac at Port-au-Prince airport, accompanied by his wife and Primary Minister Joseph Jouthe.
Jouthe said plotters had contacted police officials at the presidential palace who were likely to arrest Moise and help install a “transition” president.
Moise has been governing without the checks on his electricity for the past yr and says he remains president until February 7, 2022 - within an interpretation of the constitution rejected by the opposition, which has led protests asserting that his term ends Sunday.
Leon Charles, the director of Haiti’s national police, said officers had seized files, cash and several weapons, including assault rifles, a great Uzi submachine gun, pistols and machetes.
Jouthe added that among the files was a speech from the judge who decided on becoming interim leader in a transition government.
- Anti-government protests -
The US on Friday accepted the president’s claim to power, with STATE DEPT. spokesman Ned Selling price saying Washington provides urged “free and reasonable legislative elections in order that parliament may resume its rightful function.”
The dispute over when the president’s term ends is due to Moise’s original election: he was voted into office in a poll subsequently canceled on grounds of fraud, and elected again a year after, in 2016.
After the latter disputed election, demonstrations demanding his resignation intensified in the summer of 2018.
Voting to elect deputies, senators, mayors and community officials must have been kept in 2018, however the polls have already been delayed, triggering the vacuum where Moise says he's eligible for stay for another 12 months.
In recent years, angry Haitians have demonstrated against what they call rampant government corruption and unchecked crime by gangs.
In a letter Friday to the US objective in Haiti, several human rights and women’s advocacy groups faulted it for rendering technical and logistical assist for Moise’s plans to hold a constitutional reform referendum in April accompanied by presidential and legislative elections.
“The US must for no reason support President Jovenel Moise in his anti-democratic plans,” the letter stated.
Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince on Sunday saw sparse demonstrations and sporadic clashes with police.
