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Suspects in the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise are presented to the media by Hatian authorities in Port-au-Price on July 8, 2021. - A 28-member hit squad made up of Americans and Colombians assassinated President Jovenel Moise, Haitian police said Thursday, adding that eight were still at large as the country lurched into political chaos. One day after Moise was killed and his wife Martine wounded by gunmen in their Port-au-Prince home, the poorest country in the Americas has no president or working parliament and two men claiming to be in charge as prime minister.
The pastor with a history of humanitarian work may have orchestrated a complex murder plot against the Haitian president. The most recent American citizen to be seized in association with the president's assassination, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, has been accused by officials of initiating an intricate multinational hit job to fulfill his political aspirations.
The true masterminds behind the crime have yet to be publicly identified or detained one week following the murder of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, according to Election Minister Mathias Pierre. Haiti has taken into custody over 20 people. It has issued arrest warrants for at least five other individuals related to the incident. This involves a former Haitian senator.
Investigation Details
The most recent suspects identified as part of a massive probing into the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse are also as follows: an informant for the United States government and a dismissed government official. According to police officials, the men are among five fugitives who are dangerous and armed. They went ahead on Wednesday to track down suspected individuals in the July 7 pre-dawn siege at Moïse's private home. In the incident, Moise was gunned to death. Martine, his wife, was left injured.
According to Haitian National Police Director General Leon Charles on Sunday, Sanon had intentions to become the Haitian president. Charles added that he was the initial person that one of the accused men involved in the killing of Moise following the incident, reported CNN.
Meanwhile, according to Pierre, "If you look at the profile of these people -- and I know some of them very well -- I don't think they are the big fish that are responsible or behind that assassination. Certainly, I think they have links to powerful people, and I think the investigation will lead us there," reported Bloomberg.
One suspect identified as a Haitian politician and opponent of the Tet Kale party that Moïse belonged to was former Senator John Joël Joseph. Joseph compared Moïse to COVID-19. He stated Haitians were killed during a surge in violence under his administration in a video posted on YouTube in 2020, reported AP.
Insisting That He Is Not Guilty
According to a source privy to the investigation who could not be named because they are not authorized to discuss the affair, Sanon has persisted that he is innocent. Sanon, 63, was arrested over the weekend amid a police raid in an otherwise calm hilltop neighborhood in Port-au-Prince.
Pierre was tapped to oversee a constitutional plebiscite in September and general elections. since Moise's abrasive assassination on July 7, he has emerged as a prominent voice of the administration typically providing information regarding the investigation to the press and attending cabinet briefings.
The houses where Sanon was located are gated and massive. They are merely a stone's throw away from the address of acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph currently spearheading Haiti.
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