Photo Courtesy of Associated Press (Matias Delacroix)
Martine Moïse, the former first lady of Haiti’s assassinated President Jovenel Moïse, announced her possible run for president.
On July 7, 2021, gunmen stormed into the couple’s private residence in Haiti and assassinated the president while leaving his wife Martine Moïse critically wounded after being shot in the arm.
In her first interview since the president’s assassination on July 7, Mrs. Moïse, 47, spoke
with The New York Times, recalling the attack in her own words.“The only thing that I saw before they killed him were their boots. Then I closed my eyes, and I didn’t see anything else. When they left, they thought I was dead,” she said.
She recounted the horror of seeing her husband dead, lying beside her.
“All that blood,” she said.
A motive for the assassination has not been revealed.
Moïse told the outlet, “I would like people who did this to be caught. Otherwise, they will kill every single president who takes power…They did it once. They will do it again.”
She also alluded to running for president herself, stating, “President Jovenel had a vision, and we Haitians are not going to let that die.”
Related Story: The First Lady Of Haiti Martine Moïse Speaks Out After Husband Is Assassinated
Before his assassination, Moïse wanted to change the constitution to give more power to the presidency over the parliament. He had been accused of autocracy and corruption by his critics. He was in power since February of 2017, but opposition to his regime claimed that his five-year term began in 2016 and was set to end in February of 2021.
An election for a new president of Haiti is expected to happen soon.
According to Reuters, on July 28, Haiti’s new Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, said at a brief news conference, “The mission of this government is to prepare the conditions to hold the elections as quickly as possible.”