Haiti’s Police have accused foreign hit squad of killing President Jovenel Mose
Police say retired Colombian soldiers and a group of 28 foreign mercenaries assassinated President Jovenel earlier this week Several were apprehended following a gun battle at a house in the capital Port-au-Prince where they had taken refuge. Suspects were paraded in front of the media on Thursday, bloodied and bruised, along with a slew of seized weapons. Several suspects are still at large, and at least three have been killed by police.
It is still unknown who organized the attack and for what reason. A group of gunmen broke into the president’s home in the capital, Port-au-Prince, early Wednesday and shot him and his wife. According to authorities, Mr Mose was discovered lying on his back with 12 bullet wounds and a gouged eye and died at the scene. Martine, his wife, was critically injured and flown to Florida for treatment where she is said to be in stable condition. According to police, the hit squad consisted of 15 Colombians and two Haitian-Americans.
Angry civilians had joined the search for the gunmen, assisting police in locating some of them who were hiding in the bushes. Taiwan confirmed that 11 of the suspects were apprehended at its diplomatic compound after breaking into one of its courtyards.
The police chief urged the public to remain calm, saying that they should not take the law into their own hands. The reason for killing the president is still unknown. However, Haiti’s interim Prime Minister, Claude Joseph, told reporters that the 53 year old President may have been targeted because his fight against corruption. During the news conference on Thursday, police also displayed
Colombian passports to reporters. Colombia’s government confirmed that at least six of the suspects appeared to be retired military personnel. It has promised to help Haiti with its investigation.
Meanwhile, the United States Department said it could not confirm whether any of its citizens had been detained. However, according to US and Canadian media, one of the arrested dual citizens, James Solages, 35, is from Florida and was a former bodyguard at the Canadian embassy in Haiti.
According to a local judge, Mr Solages and the other US citizen, Joseph Vincent, claimed they were there as translators for the mercenaries after finding the job on the internet. The mission was to arrest President Jovenel Mose… not to kill him,” Judge Clément Nol told Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste.
The Colombian daily El Tiempo reported that it had obtained confidential documents naming the Colombian suspects. According to the paper’s research, four of them flew from Colombia to the Dominican Republic on June 4th. Two days later, they crossed into Haiti by land. The island of Hispaniola is shared by both countries.
Colombian intelligence agents, according to El Tiempo, have seen photos of members of the group posing at a popular tourist spot in the Dominican Republic, which they had uploaded to their social media accounts The killing has sparked civil unrest in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas. The country is still in a state of emergency, and the Dominican Republic has closed its border.
