Addis Ababa, July 09, 2021 (Walta) – A group of 28 foreign mercenaries, including retired Colombian soldiers, assassinated Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse earlier this week, police say.
Several were detained after a gun battle at a house in the capital Port-au-Prince where they were holed up.
Bloodied and bruised, suspects were paraded in front of media on Thursday, along with a slew of seized weapons.
Several suspects are still on the run, and at least three have been shot dead by police.
It is still unclear who organized the attack and with what motive.
In the early hours of Wednesday, a group of gunmen broke into the president’s home in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and shot him and his wife. Moïse was found lying on his back with 12 bullet wounds and a gouged eye, and died at the scene, according to authorities.
His wife Martine was seriously injured and has been flown to Florida for treatment, where she is said to be in a stable condition.
Police said the hit squad included 15 Colombians and two Haitian-Americans.
Angry civilians had joined in the search for the gunmen and helped police track down some of them who were hiding in bushes.
Taiwan confirmed that 11 of the suspects were arrested at its diplomatic compound, where they had broken into one of its courtyards.
“We Haitians are appalled, we do not accept it,” one man told the AFP news agency. “We are ready to help because we need to know who is behind this, their names, their background so that justice can do its job.”
The crowd later set fire to three of the suspects’ cars and destroyed evidence. The police chief called for calm, saying the public should not take the law into their own hands.
The motive for the attack is still unclear. However, Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph told the BBC that the 53-year-old president may have been targeted because he was fighting corruption.
At the news conference on Thursday, police also showed reporters Colombian passports. “Foreigners came to our country to kill the president,” Charles said, as the suspects sat on the floor behind him in handcuffs.
Colombia’s government has confirmed that at least six of the suspects appeared to be retired members of its military. It has pledged to assist Haiti with its investigation efforts.
The US state department, meanwhile, said it could not confirm if any of its citizens had been detained.