PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Two men believed to be Haitian Americans \u2014 one of them purportedly a former bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Port au Prince \u2014 have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haiti\u2019s president, a senior Haitian official said Thursday.<\/p>\n
Mathias Pierre, Haiti\u2019s minister of elections, told The Associated Press that James Solages was among six people arrested in the 36 hours since the brazen killing of President Jovenel Moise by gunmen at his home in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Four other suspected assailants were killed in a gunfight with police and two are still missing, Pierre said. Earlier authorities had said seven suspects were killed.<\/p>\n
Pierre would not provide additional details about Solages\u2019 background, nor would he provide the name of the second Haitian-American he said was arrested.<\/p>\n
Solages describes himself as a \u201ccertified diplomatic agent,\u201d an advocate for children and budding politician on a website for a charity he established in 2019 in south Florida to assist residents.<\/p>\n
On his bio page for the charity, Solages said he previously worked as a bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti. Calls to the foundation and Solages\u2019 associates at the charity either did not go through or were not answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pursuit of the mercenaries continues,\u201d said L\u00e9on Charles, director of Haiti\u2019s National Police, in announcing the arrest of suspects. \u201cTheir fate is fixed: They will fall in the fighting or will be arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n
Witnesses said two suspects were discovered hiding in bushes in Port-au-Prince on Thursday by a crowd, some of whom grabbed the men by their shirts and pants, pushing them and occasionally slapping them.<\/p>\n
Police arrived shortly afterward to arrest the men, who were sweating heavily and wearing clothes that seemed to be smeared with mud, an Associated Press journalist at the scene said. Officers placed them in the back of a pickup truck and drove away as the crowd ran after them to the nearby police station.<\/p>\n
Once there, some in the crowd chanted: \u201cThey killed the president! Give them to us. We\u2019re going to burn them!\u201d<\/p>\n
One man was overheard saying that it was unacceptable for foreigners to come to Haiti to kill the country\u2019s leader, referring to reports from officials that the perpetrators spoke Spanish or English.<\/p>\n
The crowd later set fire to several abandoned cars riddled with bullet holes that they believed belonged to the suspects, who were white men. The cars didn\u2019t have license plates, and inside one of them was an empty box of bullets and some water.<\/p>\n
At a news conference Thursday, Charles, the police chief, asked people to stay calm, go home and let police do their work as he warned that authorities needed evidence they were destroying, including the burned cars.<\/p>\n
Officials did not address a motive for the slaying, saying only that the attack, condemned by Haiti\u2019s main opposition parties and the international community, was carried out by \u201ca highly trained and heavily armed group.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Claude Joseph assumed leadership of Haiti with the backing of police and the military and on Thursday asked people to reopen businesses and go back to work as he ordered the reopening of the international airport.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Joseph decreed a two-week state of siege following Mo\u00efse\u2019s killing, which stunned a nation grappling with some of the Western Hemisphere\u2019s highest poverty, violence and political instability.<\/p>\n
Inflation and gang violence have spiraled upward as food and fuel grew scarcer in a country where 60% of Haitians earn less than $2 a day. The increasingly dire situation comes as Haiti is still trying to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew in 2016 following a history of dictatorship and political upheaval.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is this void now, and they are scared about what will happen to their loved ones,\u201d said Marlene Bastien, executive director of Family Action Network Movement, a group that helps people in Miami\u2019s Little Haiti community.<\/p>\n
She said it was important for the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to take a much more active role in supporting attempts at national dialogue in Haiti with the aim of holding free, fair and credible elections.<\/p>\n
Bastien said she also wants to see participation of the extensive Haitian diaspora: \u201cNo more band-aids. The Haitian people have been crying and suffering for too long.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haiti had grown increasingly unstable under Mo\u00efse, 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.<\/p>\n
According to Haiti\u2019s constitution, Mo\u00efse should be replaced by the president of Haiti\u2019s Supreme Court, but the chief justice died in recent days from COVID-19, leaving open the question of who might rightfully succeed to the office.<\/p>\n
Joseph, meanwhile, was supposed to be replaced by Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who had been named prime minister by Mo\u00efse a day before the assassination.<\/p>\n
Henry told the AP in a brief interview that he is the prime minister, calling it an exceptional and confusing situation. In another interview with Radio Zenith, he said he had no dispute with Joseph. \u201cI only disagree with the fact that people have taken hasty decisions … when the moment demands a little more serenity and maturity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mo\u00efse had faced large protests in recent months that turned violent as opposition leaders and their supporters rejected his plans to hold a constitutional referendum with proposals that would strengthen the presidency.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, public transportation and street vendors remained scarce, an unusual sight for the normally bustling streets of Port-au-Prince.<\/p>\n
Marco Destin, 39, was walking to see his family since no buses, known as tap-taps, were available. He was carrying a loaf of bread for them because they had not left their house since the president\u2019s killing out of fear for their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery one at home is sleeping with one eye open and one eye closed,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the head of state is not protected, I don\u2019t have any protection whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Destin said Haiti has always been a complicated country and that he wasn\u2019t sure what the upcoming days would bring. \u201cHaiti doesn\u2019t know what direction it\u2019s heading in right now,\u201d he said. \u201cTo be honest, I don\u2019t know what the solution is. There\u2019s always been a fight for power.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gunfire rang out intermittently across the city hours after the killing, a grim reminder of the growing power of gangs that displaced more than 14,700 people last month alone as they torched and ransacked homes in a fight over territory.<\/p>\n
Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, said gangs were a force to contend with and it isn\u2019t certain Haiti\u2019s security forces can enforce a state of siege.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a really explosive situation,\u201d he said, adding that foreign intervention with a U.N.-type military presence is a possibility. \u201cWhether Claude Joseph manages to stay in power is a huge question. It will be very difficult to do so if he doesn\u2019t create a government of national unity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joseph told the AP that he supports an international investigation into the assassination and believes elections scheduled for later this year should be held, as he promised to work with Mo\u00efse\u2019s allies and opponents alike.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is under control,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. AP videographer Pierre-Richard Luxama in Port-au-Prince and AP writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.<\/p>\n