U.S. says it is ready to help Haiti after killing of Haitian president

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States stands ready to provide any assistance Haiti might need after the assassination of its president, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday, saying it expected to receive a request for defense equipment.

Department spokesman Ned Price told a regular news briefing that the United States urged Haitian authorities to bring those responsible to justice and said reports the attackers were U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents were “absolutely false.”

Haitian President Jovenel Moise was shot dead https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/haitian-president-shot-dead-home-overnight-pm-2021-07-07 by gunmen with heavy-caliber weapons in his private residence overnight on Wednesday, sparking an international outcry amid fears of a descent into chaos in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Asked if there was a pending request for defense equipment from Haiti, Price replied: “We expect to be in receipt of formal requests. We stand ready to receive them. But, as of right now, I am not in a position to confirm that we have received a formal request.”

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Daphne Psaledakis and David Brunnstrom; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Rosalba O’Brien)