Coup Atlas Research Database
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04102072021ConspiracyDissident coup

Haiti, 2021 — dissident coup conspiracy

Haiti (HTI)Caribbean, AmericasFebruary 7, 2021

Event Summary

This entry is coded 7 February 2021, corresponding to the alleged coup and assassination plot against President Jovenel Moise of Haiti. On 7 February 2021, the day the opposition claimed Moise's term had ended, the government announced the arrest of 23 people for allegedly plotting to topple the administration and assassinate the president. Among those detained were a judge of the Court of Cassation, Yvickel Dabresil, and a high-ranking police inspector general.

Moise said the plot had been in the works since at least late November 2020 and that its goal was to make an attempt on his life, while the justice minister called it an attempted coup d'etat. The affair unfolded amid a bitter standoff: the opposition insisted Moise's five-year term ended on 7 February 2021, while Moise, backed by the United States and the Organization of American States, maintained it ran until February 2022, and he had been ruling by decree since January 2020. The opposition denounced the arrests as a pretext to round up prominent critics who held immunity, and named its own proposed interim president.

The 7 February 2021 coding matches the announcement and arrests.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Moise said he foiled the plot; he was assassinated in a separate attack in July 2021
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
President Jovenel Moise (target)
Court of Cassation judge Yvickel Dabresil
a high-ranking police inspector general

Sources

Moise said he foiled a coup attempt to kill him and overthrow the government in February 2021, and at least 23 people were arrested.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: Assassination of Jovenel Moise open source ↗
On 7 February, the day the opposition claimed Moise's term ended, the government announced the arrest of 23 people for allegedly plotting to topple the administration and assassinate Moise, among the purported ringleaders a judge.
SOURCE REVIEWED Washington Post: How Power Struggle in Haiti Preceded Assassination open source ↗
Authorities arrested 23 people, including a Supreme Court judge and a high-ranking police officer, in the wake of what Moise called a plot to make an attempt on his life, which he said had been in the works since at least the end of November, and the justice minister described as an attempted coup d'etat.
SOURCE REVIEWED RT/eTurboNews: Haiti president, Coup and assassination attempt foiled open source ↗
The opposition said Moise had used the alleged plot as an excuse to round up prominent critics and had violated the constitution by arresting public officials who have immunity, and in its wake it declared Supreme Court judge Joseph Mecene Jean-Louis the interim president.
SOURCE REVIEWED Washington Post: How Power Struggle in Haiti Preceded Assassination open source ↗

Editorial Note

Coded 7 Feb 2021 matches the announcement and arrests exactly (the day the opposition said Moise's term ended). Verified as a discrete event, though the opposition called it a pretext to detain immune officials. Distinct from Moise's actual assassination in July 2021. First Haiti record in the run.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
04102072021

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Moise said he foiled the plot; he was assassinated in a separate attack in July 2021.

Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Al Jazeera

“Haiti President Alleges Attempted Coup Amid Dispute Over Term,” February 7, 2021

BBC

“Haiti Political Termoil: Judge and Police Officer Among 23 Arrested for ‘Coup Attempt,” February 7, 2021

Washington Post

“Coup Allegations and Rival Claims to the Presidency Deepen Haiti’s Crisis, by Anthony Faiola, February 8, 2021

Wikipedia

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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