Haiti President and First Lady killed in attack on their home

• Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise and First Lady Martine Moise assassinated in their residence.
• President Moise was pronounced dead at the scene while his wife died in the hospital from gunshot wounds.
• Dominican Republic ordered the closure of its borders with Haiti.

Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise and First Lady Martine Moise were assassinated in their residence on Wednesday, in an attack carried out by a group of “unidentified individuals.”

The president and first lady were reportedly attacked at around 1am on Wednesday by “a group of unidentified individuals, some of whom spoke in Spanish.” Haitian news outlet Le Louverture went on to identify one of the assassins as Colombian, however this is currently unconfirmed.

According to Haiti’s Prime Minister Claude Joseph, President Moise was pronounced dead at the scene while his wife was taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds. She was also later pronounced dead.

Prime Minister condemned the “odious, inhuman and barbaric act” in a statement, and called on Haitians to be calm, claiming that measures were being taken “to guarantee the continuity of the state and protect the nation” and that “democracy and the Republic will win.”

Moise, who took office as president in 2017, became a target of an assassination attempt during a ceremony marking the 212th anniversary of the death of the country’s founder Jean-Jacques Dessalines on October 17, 2018. Three security guards were wounded in the attack, the president was evacuated to a safe place.

According to unnamed sources, the men behind the attack are believed to have been mercenaries.

Neighbor the Dominican Republic has immediately responded to Moise’s assassination by ordering the closure of its borders with Haiti and ramping up surveillance.