The murder of Haiti’s president will worsen the country’s chaos

OPPONENTS OF Jovenel Moïse, Haiti’s president since 2017, have long wanted him to leave office. Now he has—but not in the way they were expecting. A group of unknown attackers shot and killed Mr Moïse in the bedroom of his private residence in a gated community on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, the capital, in the early hours of July 7th. They also injured his wife. Claude Joseph, whom the president appointed as interim prime minister in April, announced the killing in a statement and said he had taken charge of the Caribbean country. Haiti was already in turmoil—much of it due to Mr Moïse’s rule. His murder has added fuel to the flames.

On the morning after the murder Port-au-Prince’s streets were unusually quiet, without the usual roar of motorcycles and bustle of market stalls, as Haitians tried to guess what might happen next. The city’s airport was shut, as was the land border with the Dominican Republic.