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Why Was Haiti’s President Assassinated?

In July, a group of men stormed the presidential compound in Haiti and assassinated the country’s president, Jovenel Moïse. Months later, the case remains unresolved. Investigating the killing, the Times journalist Maria Abi-Habib found that Mr. Moïse had begun compiling a list of powerful Haitian businessmen and political figures involved in an intricate drug trafficking network. Guest: Maria Abi-Habib, bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for The New York Times.
Duration
32m
Broadcast on
14 Dec 2021
Audio Format
other

In July, a group of men stormed the presidential compound in Haiti and assassinated the country’s president, Jovenel Moïse. Months later, the case remains unresolved.

Investigating the killing, the Times journalist Maria Abi-Habib found that Mr. Moïse had begun compiling a list of powerful Haitian businessmen and political figures involved in an intricate drug trafficking network.

Guest: Maria Abi-Habib, bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

  • Mr. Moïse took a number of steps to fight drug and arms smugglers. Some officials now fear he was killed for it.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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This podcast is supported by TikTok. Sometimes the most interesting discoveries are the ones you weren't looking for. That happens every day on TikTok. A science experiment can spark a whole new interest. A recipe you stumble upon can become a meal you make for the people you love. And a restaurant you've never heard of might become your new favorite spot. That's the thing about TikTok. Follow your curiosity and see where it leads. Your next discovery is waiting on TikTok. From the New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tavernese. This is The Daily. Since Haiti's president was assassinated this summer, his murder has remained a mystery. Today, I spoke to my colleague, Maria Abi Habib, on what her investigation into the president's murder reveals about corruption and drug trafficking in Haiti at the very highest levels of government. It's Tuesday, December 14th. So, Maria, the president of Haiti, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated five months ago, and that case remains unsolved. But all along, you've been investigating this assassination yourself. So, where did you begin? Well, I wasn't actually entirely confident that I could solve who did it. So, what I tried to go about doing, actually, was solve a much simpler question, which was, who is this, Jovenel Moise? For a man who was president of a country, nobody really seemed to know anything about him. Nobody really understood how somebody who was a man of peasant origins, a relative unknown, all of a sudden became president, because Michelle Martelli, who was president up until 2016, tapped him to run and succeed him. And as I started to ask various people in Moise's life, whether they were childhood friends, his teachers, business partners, political allies, one thing kept coming up, which was Haiti's eel industry. Eels, like eels for eating? Yes, huh. So, this is one of Haiti's more lucrative industries, and it started to feel like this could have been possibly part of the reason why he was killed. People kept bringing up that it was part

Transcription truncated.

In July, a group of men stormed the presidential compound in Haiti and assassinated the country’s president, Jovenel Moïse. Months later, the case remains unresolved. Investigating the killing, the Times journalist Maria Abi-Habib found that Mr. Moïse had begun compiling a list of powerful Haitian businessmen and political figures involved in an intricate drug trafficking network. Guest: Maria Abi-Habib, bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for The New York Times.