PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian authorities have made more arrests in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, raiding Taiwan’s Embassy where several suspects are believed to have sought refuge, while also detaining two Haitian-Americans and several former Colombian soldiers allegedly tied to the plot.
In all, 17 suspects have been detained and another eight are being sought, according to National Police Chief Léon 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.
Moïse’s brazen killing at his home in an attack before dawn Wednesday that also seriously wounded his wife stunned a nation already reeling from poverty, widespread violence and political instability.
Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who assumed leadership with the backing of police and the military, declared a two-week “state of siege,” and asked people to return to work and reopen businesses that were shut down in normally bustling Port-au-Prince. He also ordered the international airport to reopen.
Colombia’s government said it had been asked by Haiti about six of the suspects, including two of the three killed, and had determined they were retired members of its army. It offered its full cooperation.
Judge Carl Henry Destin, who is involved in the investigation, said Moïse was shot a dozen times and his office and bedroom were ransacked, according to the Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste.
Moïse’s daughter, Jomarlie Jovenel, hid in her brother’s bedroom during the attack, and a maid and another worker were tied up by the attackers, the judge said.
Haiti had grown increasingly unstable under Moïse, who had been ruling by decree for more than a year and faced violent protests as critics accused him of trying to amass more power while the opposition demanded he step down.
The U.N. Security Council met privately Thursday to discuss the situation in Haiti, and U.N. special envoy Helen La Lime said afterward that Haitian officials had asked for additional security assistance.
