Rival Haitian Leaders Battle for Power After President’s Assassination

Haiti's interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph addresses the audience after suspects in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, who was shot dead early Wednesday at his home, were shown to the media, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on July 8, 2021. Estailove St-Val/File Photo/Reuters

PORT-AU-PRINCE—A power struggle is brewing in Haiti as the man appointed prime minister shortly before the assassination of Haiti’s president this week said he—not the acting premier—should lead the Caribbean nation and was forming a government to that effect.

Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who was named prime minister by President Jovenel Moise on Monday, two days before Moise was killed by a squad of gunmen in his home in the capital, Port-au-Prince, said he was now the highest authority in Haiti, not interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph.