Between protests and prayers, today will be the funeral of Haitian President Jovenel Moise

Between tensions and uncertainties will take place this Friday, at nine in the morning (local time), the funeral records of President Jovenel Moise.

The funeral will take place at the Moise family residence, located outside the city of Cap Haitien, the largest in the north of the country.

Moise is the fifth head of state in the north of the island who is assassinated in the west, after Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Cincinnatus Leconte, Vilbrun Guillaume Sam and Sylvain Salnave. What already arouses the suspicions of the inhabitants of this region of the country.

“It says a lot to northerners. It is not a coincidence. To me, the assassination of the president is the assassination of Haiti, of all blacks like me, of all the children of compatriots, of all the forgotten. It’s a class struggle, ”said the mayor of Cap-Haitien Yvrose Pierre.

In the city of Port-au-Prince, several ceremonies in honor of the assassinated president took place during the week. One of them took place in the presence of Ariel Henry, the new Prime Minister, who took office on Tuesday promising to restore order to organize the elections demanded by the population and the international community.

This Thursday took place a mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Cap Haitien in Cap Haitien in honor of President Jovenel Moise. Offices have been disrupted on several occasions by people demanding justice for the president’s murder on July 7.

Throughout the ceremony there were several times when the peace that was to reign in the temple was interrupted, because the demonstrators demanded justice for Moise.

Some local authorities were seated in the front rows, including the mayor, Yvrose Pierre, who attended mass undisturbed by the constant commotion inside the cathedral.

Even before the start of the religious service a group of people entered the cathedral to encourage those present to engage in altercations, but the head of the government delegation in the North, Pierrot Augustin Degaule, came to calm the spirits.

Moise’s staunch supporters don’t want his funeral to take place, scheduled for this Friday, until the death of their murderers.

Many participants wore T-shirts with screen-printed photographs of President Moise on white background, a color that also in Haiti It is used as a sign of mourning.

The presence in the city of the director general of the national police, Léon Charles, was also controversial. The chief of police was booed while inspecting safety devices set up for the funeral. The official did not attend mass in the cathedral.

Haitians accuse him of not being able to protect President Moise, whose murder was carried out in the middle of the night under the apparent passivity of the agents responsible for guarding his home.

The atmosphere in the country has been relatively calm since the murder, which took place two weeks ago, and the only demonstrations to demand justice took place in the northern region, where Moses came from.

For the time being, 26 people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the case and there are at least seven police officers “in isolation”, although they were not officially detained, for their alleged involvement in the assassination.

(With information from Efe, AFP and Europa Press)

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