Jovenel Moïse

Jovenel Moïse
Moïse in 2019
President of Haiti
In office 7 February 2017 – 7 July 2021
Prime Minister	Enex Jean-Charles Jack Guy Lafontant Jean-Henry Céant Jean-Michel Lapin (acting) Joseph Jouthe Claude Joseph (acting)
Preceded by	Jocelerme Privert (interim)
Succeeded by	Claude Joseph (acting)
Personal details
Born	(1968-06-26)26 June 1968 Trou-du-Nord, Haiti
Died	7 July 2021(2021-07-07) (aged 53) Pèlerin 5, Pétion-Ville, Haiti
Cause of death	Assassination (gunshot wounds)
Political party	Tèt Kale[1]
Spouse(s)	Martine Moïse ​ (m. 1996)​
Children	3

Jovenel Moïse (French pronunciation: ​[ʒɔv(ə)nɛl mɔiz]; Haitian Creole pronunciation: [ʒovɛnɛl mɔiz]; 26 June 1968 – 7 July 2021) was a Haitian entrepreneur and politician who served as the president of Haiti from 2017 until his assassination in 2021.

He was sworn in as president in February 2017 after winning the November 2016 election.^[2][3] In 2019, political unrest and calls for his resignation became a crisis.^[4][5] In the early morning of 7 July 2021, Moïse was assassinated and his wife Martine was injured during an attack on their private residence in Pétion-Ville.^[6][7][8] Claude Joseph, the acting president of Haiti, recently implicated as one of the masterminds of Moïse's murder, took control of the country following his assassination.^[9]

Early life and education

Jovenel Moïse was born in Trou du Nord, Nord-Est, Haiti, on 26 June 1968. In July 1974, his family moved to Port-au-Prince, where he continued his primary studies at École Nationale Don Durélin, and followed up with his secondary studies first at Lycée Toussaint Louverture, and then at Centre Culturel du Collège Canado-Haïtien.^[10] In 1996, he married his classmate Martine Marie Étienne Joseph.^[10] That same year, they left the capital and established themselves in Port-de-Paix to develop rural areas.^[10]

Business career

With little investment capital, Moïse launched his first business in Port-de-Paix, Jomar Auto Parts, which is still in operation today. That same year, he began development of an agricultural project of organic banana production from a plantation extending to over 10 hectares (25 acres) of land in the Nord-Ouest department.^[11] In 2001, Moïse partnered with Culligan Water to start a drinking water plant for distribution to the Nord-Ouest and Nord-Est departments. In 2012, he founded Agritrans SA, introduced the agricultural project Nourribio to Trou du Nord, and helped create Haiti's first agricultural free trade zone, a 1,000-hectare (2,500-acre) banana plantation in Nord-Est.^[12] This project was supposed to export bananas to Germany, for the first time since 1954; however, only two containers were ever sent. This nonetheless led him to be nicknamed Nèg Bannann (Banana Man).^[13] The government granted tax-free access to the land, 15 years' exemption from income tax and from customs duties on the purchase of capital equipment,^[14] and a $6 million loan to a new company, Agritrans, owned by Moïse, the president of the local chamber of commerce. Anonymous investors contributed at least another $10 million. Agritrans promised to create about 3,000 jobs;^[15] however, as of March 2015, it had employed only 600.^[16]

Political career

In 2015, President Michel Martelly designated Moïse as the presidential candidate of the political party Martelly had founded, the center-right Haitian Tèt Kale Party (PHTK).^[17] In his campaign, Moïse promoted bio-ecological agriculture as an economic engine for Haiti, whose population is over 50% rural.^[18] He also expressed support for policies pursued by Martelly: universal education and health care, energy reform, rule of law, the creation of sustainable jobs, environmental protection, and the development of Haiti as a destination for ecotourism and agritourism. Moïse received 32.8% of votes in the first round of the elections held on 15 October 2015, with 54 candidates competing, qualifying for a runoff with the second-place finisher, Jude Célestin.^[19][20] However, an exit poll conducted by the Haiti Sentinel reflected Moïse receiving only 6% of the vote, and Célestin and many observers called the results fraudulent.^[21][22] Thousands of people took to the streets in violent protests, forcing the postponement of the runoff election.^[23] In their wake, the ballot was ultimately annulled in June 2016.^[19][24] In February 2016, after incumbent President Michel Martelly stepped down at the end of his term, special elections were held by parliament and Jocelerme Privert was then installed as interim President, until new elections could be held.^[25]

On 20 November 2016, a new election was held; a week later, election officials declared, based on preliminary results, that Moïse had won the election with 55.67 percent of the vote^[24] and with an estimated voter turnout of 21%, beating out 26 other candidates — four of whom claimed victory, before the official results were announced.^[26][27] Moïse thus secured the presidency without having to compete in a second-round election. In second, third, and fourth place were mechanical engineer Jude Celestin of LAPEH with 19.52 percent, leftist senator Jean-Charles Moïse of the Platfom Pitit Dessalines (PPD) with 11.04 percent, and Maryse Narcisse of Fanmi Lavalas (FL) with 8.99 percent.^[28] Jovenel Moïse was sworn in on 7 February 2017 for a five-year term.^[29]

Moïse faced challenges to his mandate, from opposition leaders who believed that Moïse's five-year mandate should end from the date of the inconclusive 2015 elections — that is, on 7 February 2021, five years to the day since his predecessor in office stepped down, though Moïse, counting from the date of his swearing in, had claimed that his term would not end till 2022.^[30]

In November 2019, Moïse met at the Haiti National Palace with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, about ways to implement a consensual resolution of Haiti's political crisis through inclusive dialogue.^[31][32] Craft later met with several political leaders from other parties, listened to their different views, and urged an inclusive solution with Moïse.^[32][33] She also urged the Haitian government to fight corruption, investigate and prosecute human rights abusers, and combat narcotics and human trafficking.^{[32][peacock prose]}

Electoral history

Presidential elections were held in Haiti on 25 October 2015, alongside local elections and the second round of the legislative elections.^[34]

2015 presidential election

2015 Haitian presidential election^[35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	PHTK	Jovenel Moïse	508,761	32.81
	LAPEH	Jude Célestin	392,782	25.27
	Platfòm Pitit Desalin	Jean-Charles Moïse	222,109	14.27
	Fanmi Lavalas	Maryse Narcisse	108,844	7.05
	Mouvement Action Socialiste	Eric Jean Baptiste	56,427	3.63
	Other parties	Other candidates	242,047	15.58
	Against all	Against all	22,161	1.42

As no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, a second round was mandated by law. However, this was repeatedly postponed, and eventually cancelled,^[36] with an interim president appointed indirectly by the legislature in the February 2016 Haitian presidential election and fresh elections scheduled for 2016.^[37]

November 2016 presidential election

November 2016 Haitian presidential election^[38]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	PHTK	Jovenel Moïse	590,927	55.60
	LAPEH	Jude Célestin	207,988	19.57
	Platfòm Pitit Desalin	Jean-Charles Moïse	117,349	11.04
	Fanmi Lavalas	Maryse Narcisse	95,765	9.01
	Renmen Ayiti	Jean-Henry Céant	8,014	0.75
	Other parties	Other candidates	35,593	3.18
	Against all	Against all	7,203	0.68

With more than 50% of votes cast, Moïse was elected in the first round.^[36]

Assassination

On 7 July 2021, Moïse was assassinated when unidentified gunmen attacked his residence in Pèlerin 5, a district of Pétion-Ville.^{[39][40][41][42]} Martine Moïse, the first lady of Haiti, was hospitalized for wounds sustained during the attack.^[43][44][45] A press release issued later that day from the office of acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph blamed the attack on "a group of unidentified individuals, some of whom spoke in Spanish".

On July 14, 2021, the prestigious television network Caracol de Colombia has said that the acting president of Haiti, Claude Joseph, has been involved by three of the Colombian mercenaries as one of the intellectual authors to assassinate Moïse and take control of power.^[46]

Honors

Moïse was awarded the Order of Brilliant Jade with Grand Cordon by the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, in May 2018.^[47][48] Tsai commended the economic initiatives undertaken by Moïse's government.^[49]

See also

• List of assassinated and executed heads of state and government
• Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, Haitian president assassinated in 1915

References

Political offices
Preceded by Jocelerme Privert Interim	President of Haiti 2017–2021	Succeeded by Claude Joseph Acting