The higher the people live on the mountain in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, the better off they are.

Below are the slums where the poor live.

Almost two-thirds of Haitians earn less than $ 1.90 a day.

Further up are the more posh places.

This is where the Haitian elite have their headquarters. President Jovenelle Moïse, who was killed on Wednesday night, also lived up on the hill, in the suburb of Pèlerin 5. Only one street leads to the president's private residence, which is secured by a checkpoint, but whose staff apparently withdrew before the attack has been.

Martin Franke

Editor on duty at FAZ.NET.

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    The President most recently wore a white shirt and blue trousers.

    Twelve bullets hit him, said a judge involved in the case.

    Two of the three children and the president's wife were in the house.

    The daughter hid in her brother's room.

    The première lady was injured and taken to hospital and is now being treated in Florida.

    The president's bodyguards were also injured.

    A maid and a clerk in the residence tied up the attackers.

    As the Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste writes, the attackers shouted "DEA operation".

    DEA stands for Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States law enforcement agency that combats drug-related crime.

    She rejects any responsibility.

    "Gangs are a form of survival"

    Reginald Boulos, political opponent of the slain president, said that killing a head of state would never have been the opposition's agenda. "I don't think the opposition would have the opportunity to carry out such a well-organized assignment today," he told the Haitian Times. Many other Haitian politicians did not comment on the act.

    So far, nobody has confessed to the attack. Haiti observers like Katja Maurer from the aid organization Medico International are certain that the attack was "highly professional" and that criminal gangs were very likely not involved. Although their armament has increased significantly, says Maurer. They could not carry out such a complex operation, who until a few years ago would still have committed their deeds with machetes and still drive through the neighborhoods on mopeds today.

    Rather, the gangs stand for the development of the country.

    During his presidency, Moïse systematically tried to consolidate his power.

    The gangs therefore served the president as para-police units that carried out the president's will on the street.

    "Gangs are a form of survival, they are a product of development in Haiti," says Maurer.

    Many Haitians had ever greater worries that the slain president would establish a new dictatorship, says Maurer.

    "President Moïse has been a highly controversial figure from the start, less in the elite than in the population."

    Plea for a start-up in Haiti

    Police chief Léon Charles announced on Wednesday evening that four suspects were killed and two others arrested. The dead are said to be white. The acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph announced shortly after the President's assassination that the attackers had communicated in Spanish. In some Haitian news portals, connections were made to Venezuela and Colombia.

    Politically, it is now open who leads the country. Acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph said Wednesday that he had taken on the task. Ariel Henry, appointed by Moïse on Monday, who should have taken office as Prime Minister on Wednesday, criticized Joseph's actions. The state of emergency for the whole country was "premature". For neurosurgeon Henry, who served as health minister during the cholera crisis, Joseph is not the legitimate head of government, he said in an interview on Wednesday. Joseph is not a blank slate either. He is said to have been instrumental in the dismissal of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004.

    Katja Maurer says that massacres and killings have recently rocked the country again and again, but that the president's assassination did not attract the international community. “What would be needed would be a start-up in Haiti,” says Maurer. These included young Haitian intellectuals who are not part of the elite and are not involved in corruption scandals.