Then President of Haiti has been assassinated at his residency in the hills of Port-au-Prince.
A group of unidentified individuals, some of them speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the president of the republic and thus fatally wounded the head of state,” the prime minister said, but there was little solid information about who might have carried out the assassination.
The president’s wife, Martine Moïse, has been hospitalized after being wounded in the attack. Some of the assailants spoke Spanish, Joseph said, raising speculation about whether foreign mercenaries were involved. Haiti is mostly French and Creole speaking.
Later Wednesday, in a televised broadcast to the nation, Mr. Joseph presented himself as head of the government and announced that he and his fellow ministers had declared a “state of siege.”
Mr. Joseph called for calm.
“Let’s search for harmony to advance together, so the country doesn’t fall into chaos,” he said.
He also vowed that the commando unit that had carried out the assassination would be brought to justice.
The news of Mr. Moïse’s assassination rocked the Caribbean nation 675 miles southeast of Miami. But it had already been in turmoil.
