True Left

Haiti's President Jovenel Moise was killed during an attack on his private residence early on July 7, according to the country's acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph.

ABC News’ Linsey Davis speaks with Haitian Ambassador to the U.S. Bocchit Edmond following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

The violent fallout from the assassination of Haitiian President Jovenel Moise was evident on Friday near his private residence in the capital of Port-au-Prince.
Burned-out cars, spent bullet casings, bloodstains and bullet-pocked walls were what remained of a shootout between the police and some of the suspected assassins on Route de Kenscoff.
Haitian authorities told CNN that three burned-out cars belonged to members of the armed group who assassinated Moise early Wednesday morning.

The armed group are "professional killers," consisting of more than two dozen people, including two American citizens and retired members of the Colombian military, authorities have said.

But as more details begin to emerge of the people who allegedly killed Moise, little is known about the suspected masterminds and their motivation for the attack.

The Haitian government on Friday requested US troops to help protect infrastructure, ports, airports and energy systems following the assassination, Elections Minister Mathias Pierre told CNN. Mathias said the request was for a limited number of around 500 troops, and that he anticipated the threat to be "potential mercenaries."
Haitian officials have given conflicting accounts and numbers for those killed following the assassination attack. Citing figures from Haitian police, the office of acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph told CNN that three suspects were killed in a shootout with authorities.
As the pursuit of those responsible intensifies, details have emerged relating to the arrest of 11 armed men in the grounds of Taiwan's embassy in the capital Port-au-Prince on Thursday.

In a sign of mounting fear and desperation in Haiti, a large crowd has gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince Friday.

An estimated one thousand people flocked to the grounds around the building, following unsubstantiated rumours on radio and social media that the U.S. will be handing out humanitarian visas.

Wednesday's assassination of President Jovenel Moise's has turned what was already a country in turmoil into a nation running scared.

The Miami Herald's Jacqueline Charles reports on the suspects who've been arrested for the assassination of Haiti's president. One of them is a former DEA informant.

ABC News’ Marcus Moore sits down with Haiti’s interim prime minister to discuss the state of the country on the heels of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, and the two Americans arrested.

In Haiti, factories close, school feedings are on hold and hunger is about to get worse
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For Haiti, where 45% of the population was already nearing starvation in March, the looting is exacerbating the deepening hunger crisis. Food warehouses are empty. Supermarket shelves are bare. And since Sept. 12, no containers have been been unloaded at the seaports, leading shippers to temporarily pause all delivery of cargo, including food.
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Children are now dying at an increasing rate, said Mickie West, a missionary with But God Ministries in the Ganthier community.

“We can’t get food for our schools, and people in the village are starving because they have no access to food or clean water,” she said.

From Jacmel in the south to Port-de-Paix in the far northwest, basic commodities are becoming increasingly hard to find, or afford when available.

“You can’t even find potable water to drink,” said Honorine Jean, 42, a teacher caring for two teenage nieces in the city of Gonaïves. “Day by day, the population is becoming worse off.”
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In March, the U.N. estimated that a third of the 2 million people living in the Artibonite Valley were at risk of hunger, while 13% faced severe hunger.

A recent “Hunger Hotspots” report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. and the World Food Program estimates that hunger will grow worse before year’s end.

“We suspect there will be a serious deterioration of food security for people, adding to and compounding the difficulties people are facing every day if not every hour,” said Ulrika Richardson, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Port-au-Prince.
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The World Food Program has said it had to put its school feeding program on hold because nearly 2,100 metric tons of food, valued at $5 million, were looted from two of the agency’s warehouses. The food collectively would have fed 200,000 school children and vulnerable adults until the end of the year.

A father of five whose children range in age between 21 and 35, Mondesir works in agriculture. He recalls the days when the rice-growing Artibonite Valley fed Haiti. But drought, natural disaster, bad governance and now rising costs have made those days a distant memory.

“We used to produce enough rice to export abroad,” he said. “Now, everything has been destroyed. ... All of Haiti is destroyed.”

Haiti is on the "verge of the abyss", according to the UN, as heavily armed gangs expand their control of the country.

Armed groups control - and terrorise - at least 60% of the capital Port-au-Prince and its surroundings, according to Haitian human rights groups.

They are also warning **** is increasingly being used as a weapon.

In the first six months of this year, the gangs killed almost 1,000 people, the UN has said.

This July marks two years since Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse was shot dead inside his home. With the country mired in crisis, it is virtually impossible to get hold of regular supplies of water or fuel, or to access healthcare services because of the violence.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) team working in Port-au-Prince has seen a substantial increase in the presence and reach of armed groups in Haiti, now numbering up to 300 gangs both within and beyond the capital, which is now mostly under their control. It’s no surprise, then, that the dominant narrative about Haiti focuses on insecurity and whether or how to answer calls for the deployment of international forces to intervene and restore order.

Yet this laser focus on the security situation has crowded out an equally important conversation: how to make tangible progress in meeting Haitians’ basic needs

There are several Haitian and international organizations working hard to alleviate that suffering, but they are in need of more funding and resources.

As the regional director for the Americas for the ICRC, I fear that a singular narrative about security in the country draws support and attention away from critical humanitarian relief, which could ultimately shrink our ability and that of others to continue to provide assistance.

Half of Haiti’s residents are experiencing hunger, and only slightly more have access to safe drinking water.

Haiti’s profound humanitarian needs are alarming and on the scale of those my organization sees in armed conflicts around the world, covered heavily in the news. But the narrative that exists outside of Haiti is that the situation is so dire achieving results is impossible, creating a sense of hopelessness and fatigue.

That’s why the international community must support Haiti — not abandon it — in finding a viable political solution and to strengthen the efforts of humanitarian and development actors, both national and international, which right now are addressing the needs of the most vulnerable.

And it must start a new conversation, one that moves beyond a security-centric narrative and embraces a compassionate, inclusive, and forward-looking approach in Haiti.