President Joe Biden condemned the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, 53, who was shot dead by attackers in his private residence overnight.
“The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti,” Biden said in a statement Wednesday.
The White House said it was still gathering information about what happened in the early morning assassination.
The gunmen claimed to be agents with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Miami Herald reported.
But sources told the paper that the assailants, one of whom spoke English with an American accent, were not with the American agency, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The Post.
World reacts to ‘horrific’ assassination of Haiti’s president
World leaders have reacted with shock and revulsion to the assassination of President Moise as Colombia urged the Organization of American States to send an urgent mission to Haiti to “protect the democratic order”.
Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader called the killing on Wednesday “an attack against the democratic order in Haiti and the region” and ordered the “immediate closure” of the country’s border with Haiti.
The United Nations Security Council expressed its dismay over the murder of Haiti’s president, who was slain in his home in an attack that wounded his wife.
“Council members say they are deeply shocked by the assassination of President Moise earlier in the day … and are concerned about the fate of the First Lady Martine Moise, who was also shot and wounded in the attack,” France’s UN ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said.
Colombian President Iván Duque condemned what he called a “cowardly act” and expressed solidarity with Haiti. He called for an urgent mission by the Organization of American States “to protect democratic order”.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, tweeted “this crime carries a risk of instability and [a] spiral of violence”.
France denounced the “cowardly assassination”.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged calm. “I am shocked and saddened at the death of President Moise,” Johnson said on Twitter, sending condolences to Haiti. “This is an abhorrent act and I call for calm at this time.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also condemned the assassination.
“I’d like to make an appeal for political unity to get out of this terrible trauma that the country is going through,” Sánchez said.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu expressed his “grave sorrow” about the “cowardly” killing, extending his condolences to Moise’s family and the Haitian people on social media.