This archive report was first published on 7 July 2021.
Published on July 7, 2021, protests against President Jovenal Moïse's rule had been escalating in Haiti, with thousands of citizens taking to the streets to demand his resignation.
Moïse had been ruling by decree for over a year, with many, including prominent jurists, contending that his five-year term ended on February 7, 2021, five years to the day since his predecessor, Michel Martelly, stepped down.
The opposition argued that Moïse's term should have ended on February 7, 2021, but he insisted that he had one more year to serve, citing the delay in the start of his term due to electoral fraud allegations.
As protests intensified, the government responded by announcing the arrest of 23 people, including a top judge and a senior police officer, who Moïse claimed had tried to kill him and overthrow the government.
Moïse stated, 'The goal of these people was to make an attempt on my life. That plan was aborted.'
Leonie Hermantin, a Haitian community leader in Miami, expressed the sentiments of many in the diaspora, saying, 'We don’t want to go back to ways of the past where presidents were eliminated through violence. There’s no one celebrating.'
The situation in Haiti has been further complicated by the rise of heavily armed gangs, which have clashed with police and attacked stations, leading to a surge in displacement and humanitarian needs.
