Haiti celebrates mass in honor of slain President Moïse amid protests

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Haiti celebrated Thursday (22) a mass in the cathedral of Cap-Haitien in honor of slain President Jovenel Moïse. The homily was disturbed on several occasions by groups of people demanding justice for the assassination of the president perpetrated on July 7.

Throughout the ceremony, there were several moments in which the peace that was supposed to reign in the temple was broken because demonstrators shouted for justice for Moïse.

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In the front rows sat some local authorities, including the city mayor, Yvrose Pierre, who followed the mass undeterred by the constant disturbances inside the cathedral.

Even before the homily, a group of people entered the cathedral to encourage those present to riot. Still, the head of the Government Delegation in the North, Pierrot Augustin Degaule, came to calm things down.

President Moïse’s staunchest supporters do not want his funeral, scheduled for Friday, to take place until his assassins are dead.

Many of the attendees wore T-shirts with silkscreened photographs of President Moïse on a white background, a color also used in Haiti as a sign of mourning.

The atmosphere in the country has been relatively calm since the assassination, which occurred a fortnight ago, and the only demonstrations to demand justice have taken place in the northern region, where Moïse was originally from.

The funeral is scheduled to take place this Friday at the family residence on the outskirts of Cap-Haitien, the most important city in the north of the country.

Moise was shot dead at his residence in Port-au-Prince in the early hours of July 7, in an attack by an armed commando group, composed of Colombian ex-military personnel, who gained access to the presidential residence without encountering any resistance from the guards who should have been protecting the life of the president.

So far 26 people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the case, and there are at least seven policemen “in isolation”, although not formally detained, for their alleged involvement in the assassination.

Related coverage: United States to sanction perpetrators of crackdown on protests in Cuba · Haiti's new Prime Minister calls for "exemplary" punishment for Moise's killers · Argentine court grants parole to former vice-president Boudou · Haiti's first lady says slain President was "betrayed"

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