(Audio) Less than 24 hours after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moises, security forces killed four people and took two more into custody after a shootout in Port-au-Prince. Authorities haven’t released the suspects’ identities or given any evidence that ties them to the president’s murder. What’s next for Haiti? And could it involve the U.N. — or the U.S.? Guest: Laurent Dubois, co-director of the Democracy Initiative at the University of Virginia.
(Video) The "alleged assassins" of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise were in custody Wednesday, a government minister said, less than 24 hours after the leader of the impoverished Caribbean nation was killed in a gun attack at his home. The attack at Moise's private residence in the capital Port-au-Prince, which also left First Lady Martine Moise wounded, pitched the crisis-hit country into uncertainty, leaving citizens fearful as shocked world leaders called for calm. UVA professor Marlene Daut tells us more.
Laurent Dubois, co-director of the Democracy Initiative at the University of Virginia and an expert on Haitian history, said Moïse helped create the crisis that preceded his death and did little to help the impoverished people in a land where some 60 percent of the population make less than $2-a-day. “In general, Moïse has been consolidating power around himself increasingly over the past years, which has created a deepening crisis of governance,” Dubois said in an email to NBC News. “The refusal to step down, which was based on conflicting interpretations of the Constitution, was one example ...
Right now, the first task of those leading Haiti is to establish credibility, says Marlene Daut, a professor of African diaspora studies who focuses on Haitian history at the University of Virginia. “There needs to be an investigation on multiple levels to figure out who did this,” she says. “The key to what happens next is if the interim government will have any legitimacy, not to mention the people who planned this—what’s their next move? Ultimately, the Haitian people need to have a say in what happens next. It can’t just be more of the same: elite men taking power and keeping power.”
Haiti, the first free republic founded by former slaves, is in the midst of several crises: violent armed gangs, rising hunger and child malnutrition, and economic disarray. “The future is totally uncertain,” said Robert Fatton, a Haiti-born longtime political scientist at the University of Virginia. “Without a local solution involving a government of national unity there is a real danger that the country could descend into chaos. “The question is whether the opposition and the government are prepared to compromise,” Fatton added. “Without this compromise the door to a possible U.N. interventi...
Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, said gangs were a force to contend with and it isn’t certain Haiti’s security forces can enforce a state of siege. “It’s a really explosive situation,” he said, adding that foreign intervention with a U.N.-type military presence is a possibility. “Whether Claude Joseph manages to stay in power is a huge question. It will be very difficult to do so if he doesn’t create a government of national unity.”
The assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse at his home threatens to exacerbate Haiti's already rampant problems. "Everything that could go wrong seems to be going wrong," says Robert Fatton, an expert on Haitian politics at the University of Virginia, and a native of Haiti himself.
(Audio and transcript) The president of Haiti was assassinated Wednesday morning in his home on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Jovenel Moise had been in office for four years. His wife, Martine, was wounded in the brazen attack. Yamiche Alcindor begins our coverage and speaks with Robert Fatton, a professor of government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia, who has written widely on Haiti.
“I’m just dumbfounded by the event,” said Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics professor from the University of Virginia. “I don’t understand how you just go inside the residence of the president, and you kill him – and then you leave. It’s all very strange. I’m not sure who is going to benefit from that …. We have no clue.”
“He had obviously many enemies,” said Robert Fatton, a professor of government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia who has written extensively on Haiti. “There might have been some degree of complicity on the part of those protecting the president.”
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Eastern university gets Mormon collection: Gregory Prince has written books about Mormon priesthood, former church President David O. McKay, late historian Leonard Arrington, and gay rights within the faith. Along the way, Prince has amassed an impressive array of books, documents and other Mormon memorabilia. Now he’s donating that collection to the University of Virginia.
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Claude Joseph has so far been the public face of the crisis, announcing Moïse’s assassination early on Wednesday morning and assuring the population the situation was under control. “We don’t really know [who is governing] – and that struggle between Joseph and Henry is not over,” said Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics professor at UVA. “All the cards are up in the air. We are really still in a crisis, but the fact that they arrested the assassins may generate some calm in Haiti.”
Name, image, and likeness has been the talk of both businesses and college athletes as of late. Now Rhoback, a clothing company headquartered in Albemarle County, is setting up its own program aimed at partnering with college athletes. “The NCAA made these changes on July 1,” Matt Loftus, a co-founder of Rhoback, said. “That day we received hundreds of messages from college athletes across the country. We had to start a program. ‘Rhoback U’ was our answer.” The pool of applicants is nearly 1,000 athletes from all corners of the country, including the University of Virginia.
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Capt. Joe Amoroso, USA, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 2012. A decade later, after service in the 82nd Airborne and a deployment to Iraq, he will return to West Point as an instructor of American Politics. But first this MOAA member is wrapping up his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia and could use your help for his thesis. Amoroso is surveying veterans on political engagement and participation. All veterans are invited to participate. Survey questions will explore voter behavior, perceptions of government, and running for office.