By: Staff Writer
January 7, 2021
A leading Haitian cleric warns that Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s days are numbered as a result of his ascension to high public office.
Jean Sadraque Cius, a Haitian activist and lead pastor at the People Outreach Ministry, based in Houston, Texas, told Caribbean Magazine Plus that he “doesn’t have faith” in Ariel Henry.
He said in reaction to Prime Minister Henry’s assassination attempt this past Monday: “I don’t faith in Ariel Henry the Prime Minister of Haiti. I believe he was a participant in the Jovenel Moise assassination in Haiti. He is not a decent man.
“He should have not gone to Gonaives. We lost one and two injured because of him.”
Prime Minister Henry was in Gonaives observing the country’s 218th Independence Celebrations this past Saturday. Gunmen unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry during that event.
Mr Cius added: “He didn’t achieve anything by making a trip to Gonaives. He didn’t even have a message for those the residents of Gonaives.”
Mr Cius is insisting that he believes Prime Minister Henry was involved in the former Haitian President Jovenel Moise’s assassination, last year August. An attempt that rocked the Caribbean for its shocking and startling act of barbarity, despite the attempt on Moise’s life being foreshadowed for months before it actually happened.
Rumours began to swirl over who could be behind the brazen killing of President Moise. Some have openly blamed the Caucasian Hattian elites behind Moise’s assassination and others, like Cius, have said that Prime Minister Henry was behind it for power and to that he said that “Henry’s days are numbered.”
Several people have already been taken into custody for Moise’s killing, which comprised of several Haitian-Americans along with ex-Colombian military officers who all have connection to a Miami based Defense Contractor who originated from Venezuela.
The motive for Moise’s killing is still unknown and in many ways fuzzy, but we do know now that Prime Minister Henry is also in the firing line as people want him dead too.
Haitian media pointed to possible gang involvement in the shooting, which they said killed one person and injured two more.
Gangs’ hold on parts of Haiti has strengthened since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July.
Police, who called Saturday’s attack the work of “armed groups,” were unable to immediately confirm casualties. Prior to the incident, a local gang boss had made threats against Henry in local media.
The prime minister’s office said arrest warrants had been issued for the suspects who fired on Henry’s convoy.
The attack is another blow to the fragile administration led by Mr Henry, who became Haiti’s acting head of state two weeks after Moïse was killed. The circumstances of the assassination, believed to have been carried out by a group of mercenaries, are still unclear.
No date has been announced for a vote to elect a new president.
The rise in violence and a dire economic situation, made worse by several natural disasters in recent years, have led to a growing number of Haitians seeking opportunities in other countries.