Haitian Prime Minister denounces assassination attempt against him

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry denounced, in an interview with AFP on Monday, January 3, an assassination attempt against his person, during the national day celebrations organized on Saturday in the city of Gonaïves. “Something was tried against me, personally”, said the head of the Haitian government, who says he feels “in people’s sights”. Ariel Henry has been responsible for the management of current affairs since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse by an armed commando on July 7.

Clashes between police and armed groups erupted on Saturday during national day celebrations in Gonaïves, 150 km north of the capital Port-au-Prince. Under bursts of gunfire, Ariel Henry and the officials present were forced to flee the city where Haiti’s declaration of independence was signed on January 1, 1804. In photos transmitted to the AFP through his office, a bullet impact is visible on the windshield of the Prime Minister’s armored vehicle.

At the end of December, groups of citizens and members of armed gangs in Gonaïves, Haiti’s third largest city, violently expressed their opposition to the arrival of the Prime Minister. “I knew I was taking this risk”, confirmed Ariel Henry, reached on the phone by AFP. “We cannot accept that bandits from whatever background they may be, for basely pecuniary reasons, want to blackmail the state”, he added, adding that gang members have asked for money in exchange for an unattacked visit to Gonaïves.

The assassination, six months ago, of the Haitian president in his private residence amplified the deep political crisis in which the Caribbean country has been stuck for years. If several Haitian citizens, two Americans of Haitian origin and about fifteen Colombian nationals, presumed to be involved in the murder of Jovenel Moïse, have been imprisoned in the prison of Port-au-Prince since this summer, the investigation into the attack against the head of state shows no sign of progress.