Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in his home Wednesday by a group of unidentified gunmen who also left his wife wounded, interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph announced — calling it a “hateful, inhumane and barbaric act” as he imposed a “state of siege” on the nation.
“An unidentified group of individuals, some of whom were speaking in Spanish, attacked the private residence of the President of the Republic and mortally wounded him,” Joseph said in a statement, adding that the assailants were armed with “high-caliber weapons.”
The primary languages in the impoverished Caribbean nation of more than 11 million people some 675 miles southeast of Miami are French and Haitian Creole.
Joseph said he was now in charge of the country.
The gunmen claimed to be agents with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Miami Herald reported.
But sources told the paper that the assailants, one of whom spoke English with an American accent, were not with the American agency.
“These were mercenaries,” a high-ranking Haitian government official told the Herald.
In his statement, Joseph said first lady Martine Moïse, 47, “was wounded by a bullet and the necessary measures are being taken.”
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