Haitian President Jovenel Moise won the disputed 2015 election, but thanks to a prolonged investigation, was not inaugurated as president for a full year following the vote. As a result, he now claims his five-year term should be another year longer, to compensate.
Nearly two dozen members of the Haitian government were arrested over the weekend in what Haitian President Jovenel Moise has called a “coup.” Critics say that, according to the Haitian Constitution, Moise's term expired on Sunday and the arrested figures were preparing an interim government to follow his departure from office.
On Monday, a correspondent from Gazette Haiti News reported that Haitian soldiers had fired live ammunition at a crowd of protesters in Champ de Mars in downtown Port-au-Prince, wounding two journalists. They also shot tear gas at the crowd.
US Lawmakers Oppose Backing Moise
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Friday that the US backs the OAS position and that “a new elected president should succeed President Moïse when his term ends on February 7, 2022.” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has done the same.
He was joined by Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Albio Sires (D-NJ), Andy Levin (D-MI), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Ilhan Omar, (D-MN) and Darren Soto (D-FL).
Levin blasted Moise's move on Sunday, tweeting that “With no evidence to support his claims of a conspiracy against his life, Moïse is demonstrating what my colleagues and I have said:…
