Police hold president’s palace security chief

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI >> The head of palace security for President Jovenel Moise, who was assassinated last week at his home, was taken into police custody Thursday, deepening investigators’ focus into the possibility that Haitian insiders had eased the killers’ path.

The palace security chief, Dimitri Hérard, made several stopovers in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, in the months before the assassination.

Haitian officials say a group of former soldiers from Colombia, whom they accuse of acting as mercenaries, played a central role in the killing.

On Thursday, the Pentagon also confirmed that some of those Colombian veterans had received training from the U.S. military, as part of a cooperation between security forces that has stretched for decades. Family members said that one them was the chief recruiter for the mercenary force, Duberney Capador, 40.

The revelations came as officials in Haiti, Colombia and the United States all raced to determine who was ultimately behind the assassination of Moise, and the aims and means of the conspirators.

On Thursday, Colombian police said the two leaders of the Colombian veterans, Capador and retired Capt. German Alejandro Rivera, conspired with Haitian suspects as early as May to detain the president.

Colombia’s police commander, Gen. Jorge Luis Vargas, told reporters that it remained unclear when a plan to kidnap Moise turned into a killing.