Gang boss wades into Haiti turmoil, sees conspiracy behind president’s killing

One of Haiti’s most powerful gang leaders said on Saturday his men would take to the streets to protest the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, threatening to pitch the impoverished Caribbean country deeper into chaos.

Jimmy Cherizier, a former cop known as Barbecue who heads the so-called G9 federation of nine gangs, railed against police and opposition politicians whom he accused of colluding with the “stinking bourgeoisie” to “sacrifice” Moise this week.

Moise was gunned down before dawn on Wednesday at his Port-au-Prince home by what Haitian authorities said was a unit of trained assassins comprising 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans.

The murder and the still murky plot behind it has caused further political instability in the long-troubled country, prompting the government to call for U.S. and U.N. assistance.

Cherizier said his followers would practice “legitimate violence” and that it was time for “the masters of the system” - business magnates of Syrian and Lebanese descent who dominate parts of the economy - to “give back” the country.

Earlier on Saturday, Moise’s widow Martine Moise, who was wounded in the attack, accused shadowy enemies of plotting his assassination to thwart democratic change.

“They sent mercenaries to kill the president at his home with members of his family because of roads, water, electricity and the referendum as well as elections at the end of the year so that there is no transition in the country,” she said.

Jovenel Moise had spoken of dark forces behind years of unrest - rivals and oligarchs angry about what he called his attempts to clean up government contracts and politics - and proposed a referendum to change Haiti’s constitution.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 11 (Reuters)