Colombia describes travel by suspects in Haiti's president assassination

The Colombians implicated in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise were recruited by four companies and travelled to the Caribbean nation in two groups via the Dominican Republic, the head of Colombia's police said Friday, while the U.S. said it would send senior FBI and Homeland Security officials to help in the investigation.

Haitian National Police Chief Leon Charles said 17 suspects have been detained in the brazen killing of Mose that stunned a nation already reeling from poverty, widespread violence and political instability.

As the investigation moved forward, the killing took on the air of a complicated international conspiracy. Besides the Colombians, among those detained by police were two Haitian-Americans, who have been described as translators for the attackers. Some of the suspects were seized in a raid on Taiwan's Embassy where they are believed to have sought refuge.

At a news conference in Colombia's capital of Bogota, Gen. Jorge Luis Vargas Valencia said four companies had been involved in the recruitment, the gathering of these people implicated in the assassination, although he did not identify the companies because their names were still being verified.

Two of the suspects travelled to Haiti via Panama and the Dominican Republic, Vargas said, while the second group of 11 arrived in Haiti on July 4 from the Dominican Republic.

In Washington, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said senior FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials will be sent to Haiti as soon as possible to assess the situation and how we may be able to assist.

The United States remains engaged and in close consultations with our Haitian and international partners to support the Haitian people in the aftermath of the assassination of the president, Psaki said.

Another eight suspects are still at large, said Haitian National Police Chief Lon Charles.

We are going to bring them to justice, the police chief said, as the 17 handcuffed suspects sat on the floor during a news conference Thursday.

Investigative Judge Clment Nol told the French-language newspaper Le Nouvelliste that the Haitian-Americans arrested, James Solages and Joseph Vincent, said the attackers originally planned only to arrest Mose, not kill him. Nol said Solages and Vincent were acting as translators for the attackers, the newspaper reported Friday.

The same newspaper quoted Port-au-Prince prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude as saying he ordered an investigative unit of the National Police Force to interrogate all the security agents close to Mose. These include Moise's security coordinator Jean Laguel Civil and Dimitri Hrard, head of the General Security Unit of the National Palace.

If you are responsible for the president's security, where have you been? What did you do to avoid this fate for the president? Claude said.

The attack, which took place at Mose's home before dawn Wednesday, also seriously wounded his wife, who was flown to Miami for treatment.

Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph assumed leadership with the backing of police and the military and declared a two-week state of siege. Port-au-Prince already has been on edge amid the growing power of gangs that displaced more than 14,700 people last month alone as they torched and ransacked homes in a fight over territory.

The killing brought the usually bustling capital to a standstill, but Joseph urged the public to return to work. The international airport, street markets, supermarkets, banks and gas stations reopened Friday, and people lined up to buy fuel again.

Vargas has pledged Colombia's full cooperation, and authorities there identified 13 of the 15 Colombians implicated in the attack as retired members of the military, 11 captured and two killed. They range in rank from lieutenant colonel to soldier.

The commander of Colombia's Armed Forces, Gen. Luis Fernando Navarro, said they had left the institution between 2018 and 2020.

In the criminal world, there is the concept of murder for hire and this is what happened: they hired some members of the (army) reserve for this purpose and they have to respond criminally for the acts they committed, said retired Colombian army general Jaime Ruiz Barrera.

Senior officials from Colombia's security forces will travel to Haiti to help with the investigation.

U.S.-trained Colombian soldiers are heavily recruited by private security firms in global conflict zones because of their experience in a decades-long war against leftist rebels and powerful drug cartels.

The wife of one former Colombian soldier in custody said he was recruited by a security firm to travel to the Dominican Republic last month.