Former Colombian army, Haitian American suspected of killing Haitian President Reuters

Andre Poulter and Robinson Sanon

Port-au-Prince (Reuters)-Authorities said on Thursday that a heavily armed commando team that assassinated Haitian President Giovinel Moys this week consisted of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans because they were hunting down The mastermind of this shameless killing.

The 53-year-old Moise was shot and killed by a group of foreign-trained assassins earlier Wednesday. Political divisions, hunger and widespread gang violence have plunged the poorest country in the Americas into deeper turmoil.

Colombian Defense Minister Diego Morano said that preliminary findings indicate that the Colombian suspected of participating in the assassination was a retired member of the country’s armed forces and promised to support the investigation in Haiti.

On Wednesday, police tracked the suspected assassin in a house near the crime scene in Petionville, a hillside suburb in the northern part of the capital Port-au-Prince.

The exchange of fire continued into the night, and authorities detained some suspects on Thursday.

Police Chief Leon Charles showed reporters some Colombian passports, assault rifles, machetes, walkie-talkies, and materials including bolt cutters and hammers at a press conference later on Thursday.

“Foreigners came to our country to kill the president,” Charles said, noting that there were 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans.

He revealed that 15 Colombians were captured and Haitian Americans were also captured. Charles said three assailants were killed and eight are still at large.

Colombian National Police Commissioner Jorge Luis Vargas said he received a request for information from Haiti about six suspects, two of whom were apparently killed in exchanges with the Haitian police. The other four were arrested.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which maintains formal diplomatic relations with Haiti, stated that 11 of the suspects were arrested at its embassy after breaking in.

The Haitian Minister of Elections and Party Relations, Mathias Pierre, identified the Haitian-American suspects as 35-year-old James Solach and 55-year-old Joseph Vincent.

A State Department spokesperson could not confirm whether any American citizens were among the detainees, but the U.S. authorities are contacting Haitian officials, including investigators, to discuss how the United States can help.

Officials in the Caribbean country, which mainly speaks French and Creole, said on Wednesday that the assassins appeared to be speaking in English and Spanish.

“This is a complete and well-equipped commando (raid) with more than six cars and a lot of equipment,” Pierre said.

The official has not yet given a motive for the killing. Since taking office in 2017, Moise has been facing massive protests against his rule — first, corruption allegations and his management of the economy, and then his increasing control of power.

On Thursday morning, an angry crowd gathered to watch the police action. Some set fire to the suspect’s car and the house where they squatted. Bullet shells were scattered on the street.

“Burn them!” hundreds of people shouted outside the police station where the suspects were held.

Power supply vacuum

Charles said that the public helped the police find the suspect, but he begged the residents of this huge coastal city with a population of 1 million not to take justice in their own hands.

On Wednesday, a 15-day state of emergency was declared to help the authorities arrest the murderer.

However, Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph (Claude Joseph) said on Thursday that it is time to restart the economy and he has instructed the airport to restart operations.

The death of Moise has left people confused as to who is the legal leader of the country of 11 million people, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

Since the collapse of the Duvalier family dictatorship in 1986, Haiti has been struggling to achieve stability, coping with a series of coups and foreign intervention.

The UN peacekeeping mission-designed to restore order after the 2004 rebellion overthrew then President Jean-Bertrand Aristide-ended in 2019, and the country is still in chaos.

Strategy Center analyst Ryan Berg said: “I can imagine a situation in which the armed forces and the national police are loyal to whom, in this case, someone claims to be the occupying president of the country. “And international studies.

The 1987 Constitution of Haiti stipulates that the President of the Supreme Court shall take over. But the amendment, which has not been unanimously recognized, stipulates that the prime minister should be the prime minister, or that in the last year of the president’s term-in the case of Moise-the parliament should elect the president.

The President of the Supreme Court died of COVID-19 last month due to a surge in the number of infections in one of the few countries that have not yet started a vaccination campaign.

Due to political turmoil, the legislative elections originally scheduled for the end of 2019 were postponed, so no parliament was convened.

Moise just appointed a new prime minister, Ariel Henry, to succeed Joseph this week, although he had not yet been sworn in when the president was killed.

Joseph appeared in charge of the situation on Wednesday, responsible for the government’s response to the assassination, calling on Washington to provide support and declare a state of emergency.

Henry-considered more favorable by the opposition-told the Haitian newspaper Xinpao that he did not believe that Joseph was a legitimate prime minister and that he should resume the role of Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“I think we need to talk. Claude should stay in the government I will have,” Henry was quoted as saying.