Latin America
Related: About this forumTwo arrested Americans claim they were just 'translators' in the assassination plot, a Haitian judge
Two arrested Americans claim they were just translators in the assassination plot, a Haitian judge says.
By Catherine Porter and Frances Robles
July 9, 2021, 4:46 a.m. ET
Two Americans arrested in connection with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti this week said that they were not in the room when he was killed and that they had worked only as translators for the hit squad, a Haitian judge said on Friday.
Clément Noël, a judge who is involved with the investigation and who interviewed both men soon after their arrest, said that neither was injured in the assault.
One of the Americans was identified as James J. Solages, a U.S. citizen who lived in South Florida and previously worked as a security guard at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti. The other was identified as Joseph Vincent, 55.
Judge Noël, speaking by telephone, said that he could not provide details on the wider plot or a possible motive, but said the two Americans maintained that the plot had been planned intensively for a month.
. . .
They were all wearing the same boots, said Justice Dieudonné.
More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/world/americas/two-arrested-americans-claim-they-were-just-translators-in-the-assassination-plot-a-haitian-judge-says.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
Also posted in LBN:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142767289
~ ~ ~
More regarding James J Solages, from Ft. Lauderdale:
. . .
Mr. Solages, 35, is a native of Jacmel, a city in southern Haiti, and lived in Broward County, the Florida county that includes Fort Lauderdale. He was the president of a small charity organization that said it focused on giving grants to women in his home city. But federal tax records show that he claimed to work 60 hours a week on an organization that in 2019 took in just over $11,000.
The organization, Jacmel First, says that its primary objective is reducing poverty and promoting education and better health systems in Haiti. His biography on his website said that he was a consultant, building engineer and certified diplomatic agent.
He also claimed to be chief commander of the bodyguards for the Canadian Embassy in Haiti. A Canadian government official said that Mr. Solages was briefly a reserve officer for a security company that had a contract to protect the embassy in 2010.
By the end of Thursday, as photographs of Mr. Solages in custody in Haiti circulated online, the charity groups website had been taken down. So was a Facebook page that showed Mr. Solages in sharp suits.
James J. Solages
Pachamama
(16,874 posts)The stench of sulphur is there and I will put money on Mr Solages being a contractor for one of the operations Mr. Prince has done.
rickford66
(5,498 posts)But I agree with you.
Judi Lynn
(160,217 posts)CARIBBEAN
/9 JUL 2021
BY PARKER ASMANN
Two days on from the nighttime assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moïse in Port-au-Prince, competing theories have failed to provide any real motive for the high-profile hit.
A commando of what Haitian Police Chief Léon Charles called well-armed mercenaries broke into the presidents residence early July 7 and shot him 12 times, killing him and seriously wounding First Lady Martine Moïse. She survived and is in critical but stable condition after being transferred to a hospital in Florida, according to the Miami Herald.
On July 8, the police chief said during a press conference that authorities have so far identified at least 28 suspects in the attack: 26 Colombians - six of them retired soldiers - and two Haitian-Americans. The government identified one of the Haitian-Americans as James Solages, a Florida entrepreneur who formerly worked as the "chief commander of bodyguards" at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti, according to the website of a non-governmental organization he was part of.
. . .
InSight Crime Analysis
There is one certainty about the raid that killed the Haitian president: it was a well-organized, well-financed tactical operation strategically carried out by individuals outfitted with sophisticated, high-powered weapons.
The suspected killers were pretending to be members of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), shouting that the attack was a DEA operation." The Haitian Embassy in the United States called the murder a well-coordinated attack by a highly trained and heavily armed gang.
There is precedent for so-called mercenary activity in Haitis recent history. In February 2019, Haitian police arrested a team of foreign mercenaries armed with assault rifles at a police checkpoint. Their clandestine mission reportedly involved escorting the presidential aide, Fritz Jean-Louis, to the Haitian central bank, where hed electronically transfer $80 million from a government oil fund [PetroCaribe] to a second account controlled solely by President Moïse, according to The Intercept.
More:
https://insightcrime.org/news/who-behind-killing-haiti-president/
Judi Lynn
(160,217 posts)It would seem they spent a lot of time swaggering, and trying to look tough.
Judi Lynn
(160,217 posts)4 MINS AGO
By News and Guts
The Wednesday assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse has triggered a manhunt with international implications that has thus far captured two Americans and at least 15 former members of Colombias army. Violence has broken out in Port-au-Prince, the nations capital, as citizens reckon with the brutal home invasion that also sent Moïses widow to the hospital with gunshot wounds.
Link to tweet
Political intrigue, gang violence, general lawlessness, a public health crisis driven by the pandemic and difficulties delivering essential international aid have conspired to create the worst crisis in Haiti in years, reports The New York Times.
On Thursday, authorities blocked roads and engaged in a firefight with commandos suspected of carrying out the assassination. The Associated Press describes the chaotic details:
In Port-au-Prince, witnesses said a crowd discovered two suspects hiding in bushes, and some people grabbed the men by their shirts and pants, pushed them and occasionally slapped them. An Associated Press journalist saw officers put the pair in the back of a pickup and drive away as the crowd ran after them to a police station.
They killed the president! Give them to us! Were going to burn them, people chanted outside Thursday.
The crowd later set fire to several abandoned cars riddled with bullet holes that they believed belonged to the suspects. The cars didnt have license plates, and inside one was an empty box of bullets and some water.
More:
https://www.newsandguts.com/an-assassination-a-manhunt-and-many-potential-masterminds-in-haiti/
Judi Lynn
(160,217 posts)Haiti president Jovenel Moise was assassinated by hit squad from Colombia and the US, police say
Jovenel Moise was reportedly assassinated by a heavily armed hit squad of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans
People cheer as a police car drives past the station where the men accused of being involved in
the assassination of President Jovenel Moise are being held (Photo: Getty)
By Zaina Alibhai
. . .
Eleven of the suspects were arrested after breaking into the Taiwanese embassy in Port-au-Prince, near to the residence where Mr Moise was killed, Taiwans foreign ministry said.
The US State Department said it was aware of the reports of the arrest but could not confirm if any US citizens were detained.
The Colombian government said the Colombians involved in the assassination were retired members of its military but did not release their identities.
. . .
The presidents daughter hid in her brothers bedroom during the attack, and a maid and another worker were tied up by the attackers.
More:
https://inews.co.uk/news/world/haiti-president-jovenel-moise-assassinated-hit-squad-colombia-us-1094640?ITO=newsnow
Judi Lynn
(160,217 posts)09 July 2021 - 19:26
BY REUTERS
Image: Valerie Baeriswyl/Reuters
Police and intelligence agencies in the United States and Colombia are investigating links to the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, after arrests of their nationals by Haitian authorities.
. . .
Police in Haiti said the assassination was carried out by a squad of 26 Colombian and 2 Haitian-American mercenaries. The two Haitian Americans were identified as James Solages, 35, and Joseph Vincent, 55, both from Florida.
Seventeen of the men were captured after a gun battle with Haitian authorities in Petionville, a hillside suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince, while three were killed and eight are still at large, according to Haitian police.
Authorities are still hunting for the masterminds behind the operation, they said.
Two U.S. law enforcement sources, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an active investigation, said that agencies were looking into U.S. connections to the killing , but declined to comment specifically on the two suspects.
The sources said U.S. agencies were not assisting in the investigation in Haiti because Haitian officials had not requested their help.
Haitian officials have not given a motive for Moise's killing or explained how the assassins got past his security detail. He had faced mass protests against his rule since taking office in 2017 - first over corruption allegations and his management of the economy, then over his increasing grip on power.
Moise himself had talked of dark forces at play behind the unrest: fellow politicians and corrupt oligarchs who felt his attempts to clean up government contracts and to reform Haitian politics were against their interests.
More:
https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/world/2021-07-09-us-colombia-probe-links-to-haitian-presidents-killing-after-arrests/
Judi Lynn
(160,217 posts)By AFP Published July 9, 2021
A crowd gathered outside the Petionville police station wehre suspects in the assassination of the Haitian president are being held - Copyright AFP Peter Louis GUM
Robenson Geffrard with Daxia Rojas in Washington and Amelie Baron in Paris
A 28-member hit squad made up of Colombians and Americans murdered President Jovenel Moise, Haitian police say, but little is known about who masterminded the assassination and their motives as the investigation pressed on Friday.
. . .
The president of the Republic, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated by his security agents, former Haitian senator Steven Benoit said on Magik9 radio Friday.
It is not Colombians who killed him. They were contracted by the Haitian state.
Political chaos
The attack has further destabilized the poorest country in the Americas, plagued by insecurity.
Two men are now vying to lead the country of 11 million people, more than half of whom are under age 20. There is no working parliament now.
One of Moises last acts as president was to appoint on Monday a new prime minister, Ariel Henry. He had not taken office when Moise was killed.
Several hours after the assassination, Henrys predecessor, interim premier Claude Joseph, declared a national state of siege for fifteen days and said he was now in charge.
While the opposition has accused Joseph of power-grabbing, the United Nations envoy to Haiti, Helen La Lime, has said he had authority because Henry had not been sworn in.
The country was already in the midst of in an institutional crisis: Moise had not organized an election since he came to power in early 2017 and as the country has had no parliament since January 2020, Moise had been ruling by decree.
Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/mystery-swirls-around-haiti-leaders-murder/article#ixzz709IgtvmM