15 Colombians and two Americans arrested for assassination of President Jovenel Moïse

Haiti, chronicle of a death foretold 

photo_camera AP/JOSEPH ODELYN - Suspects in the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise

Shortly after midnight on 7 July in Haiti, a group of armed men wearing balaclavas prowled around the private residence of President Jovenel Moise. At 01:00 am, shots were fired and the assault on the presidential residence in the exclusive Pèlerin 5 street in Port-au-Prince, near a local police station, where the assassination of President Moise and his wife Martine, who was seriously wounded and hours later at the hospital in Miami, where she was rushed. 

The president had a large group of bodyguards and armed police to protect him, leaving many to wonder how it was possible for the raiding party to enter the house unopposed. It is also surprising that the operation comes just over two months before the presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for 26 September, in which Moise was ineligible to stand and which were surrounded by controversy, given that much of the country considered that the president had been ruling Haiti illegitimately since February.

El primer ministro interino de Haití, Claude Joseph, en una rueda de prensa después de que los sospechosos del asesinato del presidente Jovenel Moise REUTERS/ESTAILOVE ST-VAL

Details of the assassination of Haiti's president are emerging amid the confusion. 48 hours after the assassination, the Haitian police have reported the arrest of a squad of mercenaries as the president's "alleged assassins". For the moment, official details are very scarce, but initial theories point to a commando of "well-trained" mercenaries. Early on, voices such as that of former Prime Minister Laurent Salador Lamorthe, who served in the administration of former President Joseph Michel Martelly, pointed to the theory of a commando of hired paramilitaries.

In the absence of an official theory of the crime, observers are trying to decipher the most striking points of the tragic episode. The official information so far from the Haitian authorities is that at least 28 attackers took part in the assassination. In a press conference, the chief of police, Leon Charles, detailed that 15 Colombians and two Haitian Americans were intercepted after a two-day police operation. "It was a commando of 28 attackers, including 36 Colombians, while we intercepted 15 Colombians and two Haitian Americans. Three Colombians were killed and eight others are on the run," according to Le Nouvelliste. 

El jefe de policía Leon Charles en una rueda de prensa después de que los sospechosos del asesinato del presidente Jovenel Moise REUTERS/ESTAILOVE ST-VAL

These are the first details leaking out about the identities of those arrested. Earlier, the Haitian National Police had reported that it had so far arrested six people for their alleged involvement in the assassination of President Moise, with four others reportedly killed during the manhunt. "We have the physical perpetrators and we are looking for the masterminds," police chief Leon Charles said in a televised statement alongside interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph.

Haitian Elections Minister Mathias Pierre has identified one of the arrested suspects as James Solanges, a US citizen of Haitian descent and reportedly a resident of South Florida, in a telephone statement to the New York Times. Solanges' identification further underpins the Haitian authorities' initial theory that the president was killed early Tuesday morning by "foreigners". Previously, law enforcement had given no information about the possible perpetrators or their motives, except for an unusual comment by the interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, that some suspects in the squad spoke Spanish.

La gente presiona a la policía para que entregue los cuerpos de dos hombres que fueron traídos por la policía después de que fueron asesinados  REUTERS/JOSEPH ODELYN

Subsequently, the Colombian authorities received four more names of people captured by the Haitian police, who are said to be four retired army soldiers. In the evening, the Colombian Defence Minister, Diego Molano, announced that "the information indicates that they are Colombian citizens, retired members of the National Army" in response to an official request from Interpol for six suspects. For his part, General Jorge Luis Vargas, Director of the Colombian National Police, added that "all the verifications are already being carried out in Colombia in order to send a full report to the Haitian authorities".  

The manner in which the crime was perpetrated remains a mystery. The known videos reveal that the operation was carried out by a group of about 30 people who fled quietly from the presidential residence in five vans. It is known that Moïse was shot 16 times in his bed. The assassins presented themselves wearing waistcoats of the US drug agency DEA, although the State Department denied that the attackers were their agents.

Un cochede la policía lleva a dos detenidos a la comisaría de Petion Ville en Puerto Príncipe, Haití,  REUTERS/JOSEPH ODELYN

The succession itself also has several elements of intrigue. Moïse had recently appointed Ariel Henry as prime minister, who was due to take office on Wednesday to lead the country to the polls, replacing the interim Claude Joseph, appointed - temporarily and on an interim basis - by Moïse himself last April following the resignation of the previous prime minister. But Henry did not have time to put on the ministerial sash, so the 'de facto' government fell to Joseph, who was about to leave office.

The assassination comes on the heels of a particularly turbulent few years in the country's perennial economic and political crisis. Moïse, who had been ruling by decree for almost a year, had been facing growing opposition for several months over his determination to stay in power beyond his term.

Moïse came to power following elections marked by continuous delays, multiple accusations of fraud and, above all, a very low turnout.  The son of a merchant and a seamstress, Moïse was an agricultural businessman who had never held any political office until former President Michel Martelly elected him as his successor as head of the Haitian Tèt Kale Party (PHTK) in 2015. Although we do not yet know who is behind this assassination, it is clear that the president had many enemies. 

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