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Ariel Henry: The head of government of Haiti claims to have escaped an assassination attempt
Photo: RALPH TEDY EROL / REUTERS
Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry claims to have escaped an assassination attempt.
The alleged attack on the head of government's life therefore occurred last weekend.
There was an attempted assassination against him, he was "in the line of fire," Henry told the AFP news agency on Monday.
According to Henry, the attempted attack was perpetrated in the city of Gonaïves on Saturday while he was attending Haitian Independence Day celebrations. During the celebrations, confrontations between armed groups and police broke out in the city. There were exchanges of fire. The shootings forced Henry and other government officials to leave Gonaïves in a hurry. The Haitian Declaration of Independence was signed in the city on New Year's Day 1804.
A video spreading on social media shows Henry and his followers climbing into their vehicles when an armed group opened fire in front of the cathedral in Gonaïves.
The AFP news agency also has photos from the office of the head of government.
They show the head of government's armored company car with traces of a bullet impact in the windshield.
Henry's office announced Monday that "bandits and terrorists" tried to shoot the prime minister in a church in the northern city of Gonaives.
Threats before the visit
In the run-up to the celebrations, members of criminal gangs in Gonaïves and civic groups had opposed the planned visit by the head of government.
Before the incident, a local gang boss threatened Henry in local media.
"I knew I was taking a risk," said Henry in his telephone interview with AFP on his visit to Gonaïves, which is around 150 kilometers north of the capital Port-au-Prince.
However, "bandits" cannot be allowed to "blackmail" the state.
Arrest warrants have been issued against several suspects, said the Prime Minister's office.
The police described the attack as an act by "armed groups".
Media reports of a fatality have not yet been confirmed by the authorities.
Henry has had prime government responsibility in Haiti since the July murder of President Jovenel Moïse.
Presidential and parliamentary elections and a constitutional referendum have been postponed indefinitely.
Moïse had been killed by a homicide squad in his home.
The background to the fact remains in the dark.
The misery in the impoverished Caribbean country has worsened dramatically since the murder of Moïse.
Haiti has been in a serious political and economic crisis for years.
asc / AFP / Reuters / AP