The United States took the tone of its criticism of the Haitian government and “condemned” President Jovenel Moise’s “authoritarian” and “undemocratic” actions.
The US Embassy in Port-au-Prince reported on Wednesday a series of tweets from Julie Chung, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the US State Department, in which Washington condemns Moise for the first time, in the midst of the serious institutional crisis that has begun with the judges and with the opposition.
“I am troubled by the recent authoritarian and undemocratic actions, from the unilateral suspension and appointment of judges to the Supreme Court to attacks on journalists,” said Chung.
That said the official of the State Department The United States “will not remain silent when democratic institutions and civil society are attacked”.
“We condemn any attempts to undermine democracy through violence, repression of civil liberties or intimidation,” he said.
He also urged all parties to the Haitian crisis to commit to it organize the parliamentary elections as soon as possible, postponed from 2019.
In this way, Chung was referring to the controversial dismissal of three judges from the Supreme Court, who were charged last week by the president of Haiti with planning a coup.
The Haitian constitution prevents the dismissal of high court judges, such as Moise hours after the opposition announced that it does not recognize the president’s authority and Judge Joseph Mécène appointed Jean Louis as “ interim president ”, one of three from.
Due to the postponement of the 2019 parliamentary elections, the parliament was not renewed, which has been practically closed since January 2020, a circumstance that allowed Moise to rule by decree ever since.
Moise plans to hold a referendum in April to approve a new constitution and then in September organize the legislation that has been postponed since 2019 and the presidential, in which he cannot run.
However, the opposition opposes these plans and demands that the president immediately leave power to make way for a ‘transition’.