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Colombian police have appointed a former Haitian justice ministry official who they say may have been involved in the assassination of the Caribbean president last week.
Jorge Vargas, the head of the Colombian police, said that a few days before the assassination of Jovenel Moïse, the officer, Joseph Félix Badio, spoke with two former Colombian soldiers who have been blamed for the murder and the he said, “What do you have? To do is to assassinate the president of Haiti.”
Vargas said this information had emerged during the interrogation of Colombians arrested in Haiti. Badio’s whereabouts were unclear and he could not be reached for comment.
The announcement came hours after police in Haiti said they had arrested five senior officers of their own strength as part of the murder investigation.
National Police Chief Léon Charles said one of the men arrested was Dimitri Herard, Moses ’security chief. He said about 20 members of the detail were now detained and interrogated.
Moses was killed on July 7 when a squad exploded at his private residence on the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince and fired 12 bullets at him. His wife Martine was seriously injured in the attack and flew to Florida for treatment.
Most of those arrested in connection with the murder are Colombians, some of them former members of the armed forces. Vargas said 18 Colombians were in police custody in Haiti, three died while trying to escape and three others fled.
Two Haitian Americans were also arrested immediately after the assassination and last Sunday police arrested Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a 63-year-old Haitian emigrant, accused him of “taking steps with a private investigation company to recruit Colombian mercenaries for this mission.”
Sanon appears in a little-seen 2011 YouTube video called “Dr. Christian Sanon – Leadership for Haiti” attacking Haitian leaders for corruption and claiming it will bring hope to the country.
Haitian police have christened the security company that hired Colombians as CTU Security, a Miami-based company run by a Venezuelan emigrant, Antonio Intriago.
The assassination has plunged Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, into chaos as politicians, business leaders and powerful gang leaders fight for power amid spiraling violence and a lack of food and fuel. Moses ’widow has accused her dead husband’s domestic opponents of organizing the murder for political and business reasons.
Moses he claimed before he died that he was fighting political rivals and local business tycoons angry at his attempts to clean up government contracts. However, the late president had been accused of corruption and close ties to the country’s powerful criminal gangs. He denied the allegations.
Claude Joseph, interim prime minister, has tried to assert control after the assassination, appealing so far unsuccessfully for UN and US troops to help protect key facilities.
In Washington, President Joe Biden said he had ordered sailors in Haiti to monitor the U.S. embassy, but that for now the idea of sending a larger contingent of soldiers “is not on the agenda.”
International powers are wary of deeper involvement in Haiti, which has struggled to find stability after decades of political turmoil and repeated natural disasters. The Caribbean island, which has 11 million people, depends heavily on remittances from Haitian expatriates and international aid.
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