The injured widow of Haiti’s president described the moment assassins “riddled” her husband with bullets after bursting into their home in the middle of the night.
Martine Moïse said the attack happened so quickly, her husband Jovenel was unable to “say a single word”.
President Moïse was killed on July 7, allegedly by 28 foreign mercenaries.
Martine was also injured in the attack, and later flown to Miami for treatment.
On Saturday, she posted a voice message to her Twitter page vowing to continue his work. A number of people confirmed it is the president’s wife.
“In the blink of an eye, the mercenaries entered my house and riddled my husband with bullets,” Mrs Moïse says in the recording, describing the moment the attackers killed her husband.
“This act has no name because you have to be a limitless criminal to assassinate a president like Jovenel Moïse, without even giving him the chance to say a single word,” she continued.
She suggested her husband was targeted because for political reasons – in particular, mentioning a referendum on changes to the constitution which could have given the president more power.
The unnamed people, she said, “want to assassinate the president’s dream”.
“I am crying, it is true, but we cannot let the country lose its way,” she added. “We cannot let the blood of President Jovenel Moïse, my husband, our president whom we love so much and who loved us in return, flow in vain.”
Jovenel Moïse, 53, was president of Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, since 2017. His time in office was rocky as he faced accusations of corruption and there were widespread demonstrations in the capital and other cities earlier this year.
Parliamentary elections should have been held in October 2019 but disputes have delayed them, meaning he had been ruling by decree. He had planned to hold a referendum on the proposed constitutional changes this September.
In February this year, on the day the opposition wanted him to leave office, Moïse said an attempt to kill him and overthrow the government had been foiled.
It is still unclear who organised Wednesday’s attack and with what motive. A number of questions remain unanswered, including how the alleged assassins were able to enter the property. Moïse’s bodyguards are due to be questioned next week. (BBC)
