On Wednesday, July 7, news broke that Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in his home, after being attacked by an unidentified group. The country's First Lady, Martine Moïse, was injured and hospitalized.

In New York City, which is home to one of the largest Haitian communities in the diaspora, the reaction was shocked, but not sad, according to Ricot Dupuy, the news director of Radio Soleil, a Hatian radio station in Brooklyn. As he told WNYC's Sean Carlson, that's because Moïse's reign has been one of the most brutal in recent memory, with police cracking down on his political opponents, and allegedly even weaponizing the country's violent gangs to intimidate people protesting his control of the government.

"The hope is that the Haitian people are given some breathing room to allow democracy to take hold in the country," Dupuy said. "I know what the hope is. But I really don't know what the reality is."

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