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A wealthy busi­ness­man was slat­ed to be­come pres­i­dent of Haiti’s tran­si­tion­al pres­i­den­tial coun­cil on Thurs­day, mark­ing the first time that the pri­vate sec­tor is in con­trol of the coun­try’s two ex­ec­u­tive branch­es.

The change in com­mand fur­ther threat­ened to desta­bi­lize the coun­try as a pow­er­ful gang fed­er­a­tion that has long de­nounced Haiti’s oli­garchs pledged to over­throw the gov­ern­ment hours be­fore the swear­ing-in.

“Peo­ple of Haiti, take care of your­selves and help us…in the bat­tle to free the coun­try,” Jim­my Chérizier, best known as Bar­be­cue and a leader of Viv Ansanm, said in a video post­ed on so­cial me­dia.