Colombia, U.S. probe links to Haiti death
Attack blamed on foreign mercenaries
BOGOTA/PORT-AUPRINCE • Police and intelligence agencies in the United States and Colombia are investigating links to the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, after arrests of their nationals by Haitian authorities.
Colombian security sources told Reuters on Friday that several Colombians believed to be part of the commando unit that assassinated Moïse in his home in the early hours of Wednesday had spent more than a month in Haiti before the killing, after entering via the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
The head of Colombia’s national intelligence directorate and the intelligence director for the national police will travel to Haiti with Interpol to help with investigations, Colombian President Ivan Duque said on Friday.
“We offer all possible help to find out the truth about the material and intellectual perpetrators of the assassination,” Duque wrote on Twitter, saying he had just spoken on the phone with Haitian interim prime minister Claude Joseph.
The assassination of Moïse, a 53-year-old former businessman, drew international outcry and pitched Haiti deeper into a political crisis which is feared could worsen growing hunger, gang violence, and a COVID-19 outbreak.
Police in Haiti said the assassination was carried out by a squad of 26 Colombian and 2 Haitian-american mercenaries. The two Haitian-americans were identified as James Solages, 35, and Joseph Vincent, 55, both from Florida.
Seventeen of the men were captured after a gun battle with Haitian authorities in Petionville, a hillside suburb of the capital Portau-prince, while three were killed and eight are still at large, according to Haitian police.
Authorities are still hunting for the masterminds behind the operation, they said.
The United States will also send senior federal law enforcement officials to Haiti as soon as possible, the White House said on Friday.
“The United States remains engaged and in close consultation with our Haitian and international partners to support the Haitian people in the aftermath of the assassination of the president,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
In response to a Haitian government request, senior officials from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security will be sent to Portau-prince to assess the situation and see how to best assist, she said.
Haitian officials have not given a motive for Moïse’s killing or explained how the assassins got past his security detail.