Wife of Haitian president speaks since husband’s assassination

Martine Moïse, the widow of slain Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, has spoken out for the first time since her husband’s assassination on Wednesday morning.

President Moïse was killed in an attack on his private residence. According to interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who disclosed the details of the assassination on Wednesday morning.

Martine, who was also brutally wounded in the attack, has now spoken out for the first time in a two-minute recording posted on Twitter.

She said, “I’m alive, thanks to God. But I love my husband, Jovenel. We fought together for more than 25 years. During all these years, love radiated within the home. But suddenly, the mercenaries came and pelted my husband with bullets.”

Moïse is currently being treated at a Miami hospital for injuries she sustained during the attack.

According to her, the ones who assassinated her husband are “gutless criminals”. The widowed first lady also revealed that her husband was not given a chance to speak before he was gunned down.

Authorities have since killed four people suspected to have perpetrated the attack. Seventeen people have also been arrested, including several former Colombian soldiers—two men believed to be Haitian Americans.

“They sent mercenaries to kill the president at his home with members of his family because of roads, water, electricity and referendum as well as elections at the end of the year so that there is no transition in the country,” the widow, who is also in critical condition, said.