While this week’s assassination has intensified Haiti’s political turmoil, progressives have emphasized that the ongoing crisis is inseparable from long histories of French and U.S. imperialism and warned against further Western interventions in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
A U.S. citizen of Haitian descent has been arrested as a suspect in the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, a senior government official said Thursday.
James Solages, a U.S. citizen, is one of six people arrested so far in connection with the early Wednesday morning murder of Moïse, according to Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections and inter-party relations.
Pierre reportedly told the Washington Post that authorities believe at least one additional detainee is a Haitian American and all were described by Haitian Communications Minister Pradel Henriquez as “foreigners.”
While the Haitian government has not yet provided evidence of the six detainees’ alleged participation in the assassination, officials say four other suspects have been killed. According to Pierre, law enforcement is attempting to “protect the police station” in Port-au-Prince where the suspects are being held from enraged citizens who are “trying to get to them, to burn them.”
The assassination came amid widespread street protests against the Moïse government, which has faced accusations of corruption and rampant abuses of power. Moïse, who was backed by the United States, dissolved the Haitian parliament early last year and had been ruling by decree ever since.
“There’s multiple crises happening here. There’s a massive food crisis. Hurricane season is approaching. The economic crisis is deepening. Rather than trying to rush in and solve the situation, international actors should exercise some patience.” https://t.co/kQ8bkoVlEg
— Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) July 8, 2021
While this week’s assassination has intensified Haiti’s political turmoil, progressives have emphasized that the ongoing crisis is inseparable from long histories of French and U.S. imperialism and warned against further Western interventions in the impoverished Caribbean nation, as Common Dreams reported Thursday.
Common Dream’s work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.
US Citizen Arrested as Suspect in Assassination of Haitian President added by Kenny Stancil | Common Dreams on
View all posts by Kenny Stancil | Common Dreams →