Haitian Prime Minister Denies Hiring Gangs To Organize Official Holiday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2021) Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry rejects claims that the government paid gang members to organize a ceremony to mark the 215th anniversary of the death of Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the founder of the independent Haitian state and its first ruler.

"We officially deny the false reports circulating on social media about public funds that the government allegedly handed over to armed gangs on the occasion of laying flowers at the monument (to Dessalines) in Pont Rouge," the prime minister's office said in a statement.

The Haiti Libre news portal reported that the prime minister's motorcade tried to reach Pont Rouge on Sunday, the day of the festivities, but was shot at by gang members. The head of the government then moved the laying of flowers to the National Pantheon Museum, but did not mention the incident in Pont Rouge, according to the news.

The leader of the G9 gang, former policeman Jimmy "Barbeque" Cherizier, confirmed that he did not intend to let the government delegation into Pont Rouge, according to Haiti Libre.

Local media have since published photos and videos of Cherizier dressed in a white suit, laying flowers at the Emperor's monument. At the base of the statue a photograph of the assassinated President Jovenel Moise can be seen.

Henry was previously accused of having a phone conversation with Joseph Felix Badio, a key suspect in Moise's assassination, on the night of his murder of July 7.