RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Martine Moïse, the widow of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, who was assassinated on July 7, is considering running for the presidency of the country, she said in an interview published Friday (30) by “The New York Times”, in which she speaks for the first time about the assassination.
“When they left, they thought I was dead,” Moïse said of the attack, in which she was shot in the arm and of which she recalls the horror of seeing the lifeless body of her husband, shot in their bedroom in the middle of the night.
In the interview, the first since then, she stated that the people behind the assassination have not yet come to light despite the high number of arrests that have been made, and pointed to Haitian “oligarchs” as responsible.
“Only the oligarchs and the system could kill him,” said Moise, who spoke to the U.S. newspaper in Florida on condition that her exact whereabouts not be revealed.
In the interview, the Haitian first lady said she is seriously considering running for president after she undergoes more surgeries on the injured arm, which she fears she may never use again.
“President Jovenel had a vision,” he stressed, “and we Haitians are not going to let him die.”
About the assassination, Moise recounted that she and her husband were sleeping when they were awakened by the sound of gunshots.
As she recalled, she immediately went to wake up her children and told them to hide in a bathroom. At the same time, the president called for help through his phone to two members of his security team, Dimitri Hérard, and Jean Laguel Civil, who are now in the custody of the authorities.
Suddenly, a burst of gunfire entered the room, wounding her in the hand and elbow, and she remained still on the floor, according to her account. “At this moment, I felt like I was choking because I had blood in my mouth, and I couldn’t breathe,” she explained, asserting that she thought they were all going to die.
She said the assassins who killed the president spoke exclusively in Spanish and rummaged through the room until they found something they were looking for on a shelf where her husband kept files.
On the investigations, Moïse declared herself pleased with the arrest of several suspects but insisted on the need to know who really financed the operation.
In her opinion, the money trail will lead to Haitian “oligarchs” with whom her husband was at odds, and she mentioned in particular businessman Reginald Boulous as someone who could benefit from the president’s death. However, she avoided accusing him directly of having ordered the assassination.
In declarations to the “Times”, Boulous denied having any link with the assassination. He defended that, in addition, his political aspirations have been damaged with the death of Moïse since the opposition to his presidency was his main asset.
For the moment, 26 people have been arrested, including 18 Colombians, mostly retired military, and 2 Haitian policemen and 6 civilians, some of them with dual U.S. citizenship.
At least 10 suspects are still at large, including 5 Colombians and 5 Haitians, the latter accused of involvement in the planning.