Some members of Haiti’s opposition say they will not support Prime Minister-designate Ariel Henry, whom President Jovenel Moise named to the position a day before he was assassinated. Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph has led the country since the president was killed inside his private residence in the early hours of July 7.  On Saturday, the influential Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph gives a press conference, July 19, 2021.It was not clear when Joseph would step down.  Opposition rejects CORE group, PM designate 
 
Former Senator Serge Jean Louis of the Fron Nasyonal Demokrasi (FND) party rejected outright the CORE group’s statement Monday.  “I am almost sure that no one in the opposition supports this because it’s a road to nowhere. This is just another PHTK government (the party of Moise) – with the same orientation,” he told VOA.    Lawyer Caleb Jean Baptiste, who heads a legal group dedicated to defending prisoners and human rights, also rejected the CORE group statement.    “The CORE group is not Dessalines (Haitian revolutionary war hero), it is not Henry Christophe (Haitian revolutionary hero), it is not Haitian, they are interfering in our country, they are violating the OAS charter, they are violating all the agreements that we have signed and ratified, the CORE group does not have the right to do that,” Jean Baptiste told VOA.  VOA Creole reached out to both Henry and Joseph for comment but did not get a response.   Funeral preparations Meanwhile, in Cape Haitian, preparations for Moise’s funeral on Friday are under way. VOA Creole’s reporter in the northern city saw stands being built to accommodate VIPs who will be attending the official ceremony on Friday.  VOA also visited the cemetery where the president will be laid to rest next to his father, Etienne Moise, who passed away on October 4, 2020. It was the president’s desire to be buried next to his father, his family said.    First lady Martine Moise returned to Haiti on Saturday from Miami, where she was treated for wounds sustained during the attack that resulted in her husband’s death. Dressed in black, protected by an anti-bullet vest and with her arm in a sling. She was greeted at the airport by Joseph, with whom she has been in frequent contact since the assassination.  
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