Haitian Prime Minister Implicated In Assassination Of Former President {F}

Vincent helped the DEA in 2017 to arrest Guy Philippe, who led a 2004 coup against then-President Jean Bertrand Aristide, on drugs trafficking charges, the sources said. Vincent was with Haitian Police when Philippe was handed over to the DEA at an airport. Philippe is now serving nine years in a US federal prison.   

Vincent was one of three US citizens arrested last week on suspicion of being behind Wednesday's early morning deadly raid on the president's home. The two others are James Solages, 35, a maintenance worker, and Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a 63-year-old doctor and pastor, who is accused of being the mastermind. 23 Colombians are also under arrest. 

A number of the arrested suspects are FBI informants, CNN reported. 

Footage from the early Wednesday assassination shows an attacker with an American accent shouting in English 'this is a DEA operation' as the hit squad arrived at the president's mansion. 

Haitian police also said they uncovered a hat with DEA emblazoned across it in the home of Sanon - along with a stash of weapons.  

An associate of Sanon has suggested Washington backed the president's assassination, saying their friend had claimed the mission was supposed to 'save Haiti from hell, with support from the US government'.  

Both US and Haitian authorities insisted in the hours after the assassination that the DEA was not involved.     

James Solages, 35, (left) and Joseph Vincent, 55, (right) are seen Thursday following their arrests. It has emerged Vincent was a DEA informant who handed over the warlord responsible for leading the last coup in the Caribbean nation

Vincent helped the DEA in 2017 to arrest Guy Philippe (pictured left in 2004), who led a 2004 coup against then-President Jean Bertrand Aristide, on drugs trafficking charges, the sources said. Christian Emmanuel Sanon, 63, (right) was the third US citizen arrested in Haiti over the assassination. Haitian police said they uncovered a DEA hat in his home - along with weapons 

The latest revelations come as:

• A second wave of Colombian ex-soldiers was also headed for Haiti after being recruited for what they were told was a 'potentially dangerous security operation' 
• Christian Emanuel Sanon, who is suspected of being the mastermind of the plot, launched a website last month campaigning to replace Moïse as president 
• Sanon claimed to have the backing of a key UN figure and wrote a letter to a State Department official saying he had been picked as interim leader  
• Dimitri Hérard, head of the General Security Unit of the National Palace, allegedly flew to Colombia, Ecuador and Panama in the months before the assassination, it has emerged 
• He is being probed over whether he had any role in recruiting the mercenaries in Colombia with authorities planning to interrogate him and the president's other key security personnel this week 
• The US sent State Department, Justice Department, and Homeland officials to Port-au-Prince Sunday 
• The Haiti government is planning a state funeral for President Jovenel Moïse
• Haitian officials and residents voiced outrage over photos on social media purportedly of his corpse  

Haitian authorities described the suspects as a unit of assassins made up of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans. Five Colombians are still on the loose. 

Sanon is the third person with US ties to be arrested in connection with last week's assassination. James Solages, 35, and Joseph G. Vincent, 55, both from South Florida, have been in custody since they turned themselves in. 

Sanon allegedly recruited the  Miami-based CTU Security, which is registered in Florida as the Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy LCC, and CTU Security recruited the Colombians who are accused of carrying out the hit, sources familiar with the investigation told the Miami Herald.    

The National Police said they also have evidence that Sanon was in contact with at least two other suspects who planned the assassination.  

Christian Emmanuel Sanon, 63, who was arrested in Haiti, recently entered Haiti on a private plane 'with the intention of taking the Haitian presidency,' the Haitian National Police said in a statement

Jovenal Moïse, the president of Haiti, was murdered in the early hours of Wednesday at his home in the capital city, Port-au-Prince

Suspects in the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moïse are shown to the media in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Thursday

Weaponry, mobile phones, passports and other items are being shown to the media along with suspects in the assassination

Gunman spotted in the street outside the home of Haitian leader

Police Chief Léon Charles say authorities raided Sanon's house in Haiti and found 20 boxes of bullets, gun parts, four automobile license plates from the Dominican Republic and two cars and correspondence.

They also found a hat emblazoned with the logo of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration - the same disguise the assassins are said to have used during the attack.

Charles said Sanon recruited the suspects, adding that he flew into Haiti with them in early June. The men's initial mission was to protect Sanon, but they later received a new one: arrest the president, the chief said.

'The operation started from there,' he said, adding that an additional 22 suspects joined the group and that contact was made with Haitian citizens.

Charles said that after Moïse was killed, one of the suspects phoned Sanon, who then got in touch with two people believed to be the intellectual authors of the plot. He did not identify the masterminds or say if police knew who they are. 

Sanon has lived in Florida, in Broward County and in Hillsborough County on the Gulf Coast. Records show he has also lived in Kansas City, Missouri. He filed for bankruptcy in 2013 and identifies himself as a doctor in a video on YouTube titled 'Leadership for Haiti.'

Although he describes himself as a doctor he does not have a license in Florida, the Miami Herald reports. 

In the video, he denounces the leaders of Haiti as corrupt, accusing them of stripping the country of its resources, saying that 'they don't care about the country, they don't care about the people.'

He claims Haiti has uranium, oil and other resources that have been taken by government officials. 'With me in power, you are going to have to tell me: 'What are you doing with my uranium? What are you doing with the oil that we have in the country? What are you going to do with the gold?''

He also added: 'This is a country with resources. Nine million people can't be in poverty when we have so much resources in the country. It's impossible. ... The world has to stop doing what they are doing right now. We can't take it anymore. We need new leadership that will change the way of life.'

Sanon has more than a dozen registered companies in Florida, including medical services, an energy company and real estate, but most are now inactive, the Herald reports.

He has also listed himself as church pastor at the Tabarre Evangelical Tabernacle and as president of a non-government organization called Organization Rome Haiti.

President Joe Biden sent sent a delegation of US officials to Haiti on Sunday to help with security and aid in the investigation. They will report back to Biden on their findings as US debates its response

The middle-of-the-night murder plunged the troubled Caribbean nation into chaos, with at least three men now claiming to be its leader. 

In an effort to quell tensions, President Joe Biden acknowledged the county's interim government's request for help and sent a delegation of US officials to Haiti on Sunday to help with security and aid in the investigation. 

They will report back to Biden on their findings as US debates its response. 

The group of Colombians and Haitian Americans suspected of carrying out the assassination have reportedly told investigators they were there to arrest Moïse, not kill him.  

'They probably were watching and waiting for the opportunity for them to do it,' said Investigative Judge Clément Noël, who was among the first to question the two Haitian-Americans among the 19 suspects detained so far.

Citing people who had spoken to some of the 19 suspects detained so far, the Miami Herald said they said their mission was to arrest Moïse and take him to the presidential palace.

Haitian-born American citizens James Solages, 35, (above) and Joseph Vincent, 55, are said to have confessed to being involved in Wednesday's early morning raid at the president's mansion near Port-au-Prince

A source close to the investigation said the two Haitian Americans, Solages and Vincent, told investigators they were translators for the Colombian commando unit that had an arrest warrant.

But when they arrived, they found him dead. 

Meanwhile, Haiti's First Lady Martine Moïse is being treated for injuries in a Florida hospital, where she issued the recorded statement in Creole early Wednesday. 

 'I'm alive, thanks to God,' she said in the recording, which also played on local radio stations. 'But I love my husband Jovenel. We fought together for more than 25 years.

'During all these years, love radiated within the home. But suddenly, the mercenaries came and pelted my husband with bullets.'  

Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and First Lady Martine are pictured together in 2017. Moïse was riddled with 12 bullet holes and had his eye gouged out during Wednesday's brutal attack, which killed him and seriously injured his wife

Footage circulating online purportedly taken by a neighbour of the president shows men with rifles arriving outside the property

Turning to the assassins who murdered her husband, the former first lady said: 'You have to be a notorious criminal without guts to assassinate a president like Jovenel Moïse with impunity without giving him the chance to speak. You knew who the president was fighting against.

'These people hired mercenaries to kill the president and his family because of the projects of roads, electricity, drinking water supply, organization of the referendum and elections.

'The mercenaries who assassinated the president are currently behind bars, but other mercenaries currently want to kill his dream, his vision, his ideology.' 

A look at the chaos in Haiti amid president's assassination

The leader of Haiti's opposition hired a Washington DC lobbyist two days before the island's president was assassinated - and is now due to be questioned by cops in connection with the murder. 
Pierre Reginald Boulos signed up Art Estopinan, a former chief of staff to former Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), to push his interests on Capitol Hill on Monday - some 48 hours before President Jovenel Moïse was killed by hitmen during a dawn raid on his house. 
Boulos - leader of the MTVAyiti party - is a controversial figure who, in the aftermath of a 2004 coup, oversaw the import of weapons into the country so they could be distributed to the Haitian National Police, according to a 2005 US diplomatic cable exposed by WikiLeaks. 

This was reportedly part of an attempt to clamp down on resistance fighters opposed to the de facto US-backed government, and was justified at the time as an attempt to clamp down on street violence. However, it provoked an outcry and accusations that the island's elite were trying to form a 'private army'. 
Boulos later sat on the board of former President Bill Clinton's Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), which controls the spending of billions donated to rebuild Haiti after the January 12, 2010, earthquake that killed 30,000, the National reported. 
The businessman was angry at Moïse's decision to stay on as president past February 7, which they insisted was the end of his term. However, he has strongly denied any role in the killing, which has left the country on the brink of civil war. 'We condemn the killing strongly, very strongly,' he told Politico. 'It's a sad time for Haiti. It's a dark day for Haiti.' 
Boulos will be asked to meet with prosecutors next week, along with Senate President Youri Latortue, who was described by former US ambassador Janet Sanderson as 'one of the most brazenly corrupt of leading Haitian politicians' in a leaked 2016 cable.

Pierre Reginald Boulos (left) signed a lobbyist to push his interests on Capitol Hill on Monday - some 48 hours before President Jovenel Moïse (right) was killed by hitmen during a dawn raid on his house

Boulos signed up Art Estopinan, (right) a former chief of staff to former Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who has compared Moïse's murder to JFK's assassination 

Boulos said he hired Washington veteran Estopian to give him access to President Biden's' administration 'so I can promote my vision of the new Haiti'

Policemen enter the compound on Haiti on Saturday were the men suspected of murdering President Moise are being held 

Colombian 'mercenary' posted tourist snaps on Facebook 'before helping to murder president' 

A Colombian mercenary posted tourist snaps on Facebook showing him visiting the nearby Dominican Republic before sneaking across the border to Haiti to murder the country's president, it has been claimed. 

Mauricio Grosso Guarín, 41, was identified by Colombian senator Gustavo Bolívar as one of the men arrested after Wednesday's killing, with national newspaper El Tiempo revealing he had earlier shared pictures showing him enjoying the sites in Punta Carna, a Dominican resort town.

Mauricio Grosso Guarín, 41, was identified by Colombian senator Gustavo Bolívar as one of the men arrested after Wednesday's killing. He is seen in a tourist snap in the Dominican Republic 

Guarín arrived on the island early last month, with photos showing him posing by the sea and sitting on a square with both arms raised in the air. 

He arrived in Haiti on June 6 and was among 19 alleged assassins arrested after President Jovenel Moïse's murder in a dawn raid on Wednesday, with three more dead and eight still at large. 

Guarín, a former soldier, was one of 15 Colombians seized by the Haitian National Police following the incident, which has plunged the island onto the brink of civil war. 

Moïse appointed Henry as prime minister two days before he was assassinated, and both he and Joseph are now claiming the office, adding to the existing instability on the island. 

Estopian, a Republican, has compared Moïse's killing to President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963. He previously lobbied on Boulos' behalf on human rights issues before deregistering in May. 

Boulos helped elect Moïse in 2016, but later had what he described as 'a big fallout with him' and became one of his staunchest critics.

Boulos is among a series of elite insiders who are now the focus of investigations into the former president's killing. 

Authorities are asking that the presidential candidate and well-known businessman meet with prosecutors next week for questioning. He has not been charged with any crime.  

So far nineteen people, including two Americans, have been arrested in connection with the Moïse's assassination, although it is still unclear who masterminded it.  

One of the American suspects worked with Sean Penn after the star set up a charity to help rebuild the island after its devastating 2020 earthquake, it emerged Saturday. 

James Solages, 35, worked as a driver and bodyguard for the relief organization set up to respond to the aftermath of the magnitude 7.0 quake that killed 300,000 Haitians and left tens of thousands homeless.

It is not known if they ever worked directly together. 

In an online profile Solages also lists as past employers the Canadian Embassy in Haiti, while his Facebook page - which was taken down following news of his arrest - features photos of armored military vehicles and a shot of himself standing in front of an American flag.

Solages described himself as a 'certified diplomatic agent,' an advocate for children and budding politician on a now-removed website for a charity he started in 2019 in south Florida to assist resident of his home town of Jacmel, on Haiti´s southern coast. 

Solages and fellow Haitian-American Joseph Vincent, 55, are said to have confessed to being involved in Wednesday's early morning raid that left president Jovenel Moïse dead and his wife fighting for her life.

However, they allegedly claimed they were hired as translators in a plot to arrest politician but not to kill him. 

Vincent allegedly claimed the plot was orchestrated by a foreigner named 'Mike' who spoke English and Spanish, they planned to take Moïse to the National Palace and the plot was devised over the course of a month in a hotel in Pétion-Ville.

Deputy justice of the peace Judge Clément Noël told Le Nouvelliste that the two men, who both live in Florida, said 'the mission was to arrest President Jovenel Moïse, within the framework of the execution of a mandate of an investigating judge and not to kill him.'  

Solages said he 'found this job on the internet', Noël told the outlet.   

Authorities are now investigating if the plot was an inside job with the president's key security personnel facing interrogation.          

So far nineteen people, including two Americans, have been arrested in connection with the Moïse's assassination, although it is still unclear who masterminded it. James Solages, 35, (left) worked as a driver and bodyguard for a relief organization set up by Sean Penn (right, in Haiti) following the magnitude 7.0 quake that killed 300,000 Haitians and left tens of thousands homeless

Haitian citizens gather in front of the US Embassy in Tabarre, Haiti, on Saturday asking for asylum after the assassination

Jean Laguel Civil, Moïse's security coordinator and Dimitri Hérard, head of the General Security Unit of the National Palace will be questioned.

Haitian Prosecutor Me Bed-Ford Claude said he had seen no casualties among the president's security detail following the assassination.

'They are responsible for the security of the president... I did not see any police victim except the president and his wife. If you are responsible for the security of the president where were you?' 

Officials said they are still looking for the 'intellectual authors' of the plot. National Police Director Leon Charles said 'we have the physical perpetrators in hand and we are looking for the instigators.'  

It also emerged that the hit squad stayed at a home recently vacated by politician Magalie Habitant, an apparent ally of the murdered president.

However, she claims she left the property in Thomassin three months ago and hired it from a lawyer.    

Habitant was implicated in a 2019 plot when seven heavily-armed foreign mercenaries were arrested in Haiti before fleeing the country. She was suspected of buying the vehicles used by the group and was temporarily banned from leaving the country. 

In total, Haiti National Police said there were 28 presumed assassins responsible for Wednesday's raid, with 17 arrested, three dead and eight still at large.   

Solages (left) and Joseph Vincent (right) are seen at a Thursday press conference where Haitian authorities paraded the detained suspects. The two US citizens allegedly claimed they were hired as translators in a plot to arrest the Haitian president but not to kill him

Haitian Prosecutor Me Bed-Ford Claude said he had requested the interrogation of Jean Laguel Civil, Moïse's security coordinator, (left with the president) and Dimitri Hérard, head of the General Security Unit of the National Palace (right), as he suggested it might be an inside job and demanded to know: 'where were you?'

US will send federal law enforcement and COVID-19 vaccines to Haiti

It has now also been claimed that the alleged mercenaries stayed in the home of Magalie Habitant (pictured) - an ally of the murdered president and prominent member of the PHTK political party

Suspects in the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise are shown to the media in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Thursday

Weaponry, mobile phones, passports and other items are being shown to the media along with suspects in the assassination

Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and First Lady Martine are pictured together in 2017. Moïse was riddled with 12 bullet holes and had his eye gouged out during Wednesday's brutal attack, which killed him and seriously injured his wife