Haiti appoints new prime minister in wake of president's assassination

FILE PHOTO: People place a portrait of late Haitian President Jovenel Moise with a quote from him that reads in creole "I try, you don't give up. Continue fighting" at a memorial outside the Presidential Palace, a week after his assassination, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti July 14, 2021. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) -Haiti's government on Tuesday formally appointed Ariel Henry as prime minister, nearly two weeks after President Jovenel Moise was gunned down in a murder plot that likely extends far beyond the Caribbean country's borders.

Henry assumed the role of de-facto leader of the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation in a ceremony in the capital Port-au-Prince, where he began his inaugural speech with a minute of silence for the slain president.