RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – An audio message attributed to Martine Moise, the widow of the assassinated Haitian president, Jovenel Moise, was published this Saturday, July 10, 2021, on her official Twitter account. She affirmed that she is “alive” and also launched political messages.
A Haitian government spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the recording in which the voice attributed to Moise’s widow, who is hospitalized in the United States and, according to the latest available information, was in critical condition, can be heard.
MESSAGE DE LA PREMIÈRE DAME MARTINE MOISE. pic.twitter.com/cFQW70xTFE
— Martine Moïse (@martinejmoise) July 10, 2021
The voice attributes the armed attack to ” mercenaries ” in the audio, lasting two minutes and twenty seconds. It links the motive for the assassination to the president’s desire to hold a referendum to approve a new constitution.
“You know who the president was fighting against. They sent mercenaries to assassinate the president at home, with all his family, because he wanted roads, water, elections, and the referendum at the end of the year (they assassinated him) so that there would be no transition in the country,” says the audio.
In a political tone, she assured that “the mercenaries who assassinated the president are in jail, but there are other mercenaries who want to assassinate the president’s dream” and “the idea” he had for the country.
The message comes after several Haitian opposition figures have questioned the official version that the assassination was committed by a commando of Colombian mercenaries.
In the attack, allegedly perpetrated by 28 armed men, Moise was killed and his wife wounded. Still, no official information has been released on the state of health of the security guards guarding the presidential residence.
Hours after the attack last Wednesday, Martine Moise was transferred to Miami, United States, in a private ambulance plane, and is being treated in a hospital in that city.
Last Thursday, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Congresswoman Frederica Wilson said the first lady’s condition was “stable but critical”.