Colombians arrested in the US for the murder of Haiti's President Moïse

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A picture of the murdered President Jovenel Moïse in Port-au-Prince

Photo: Rodrigo Abd / AP

Half a year after the assassination of the Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, a Colombian suspect was arrested in the USA.

The 43-year-old is accused of conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States in a federal court in Florida, according to the US Department of Justice.

The former soldier had fled to Jamaica and was to be deported from there to his home country.

However, during a stopover in Panama, he said he was ready to travel to the United States.

According to the criminal complaint, the suspect had already spoken to US law enforcement officers voluntarily in October.

The accused is charged with participating in the conspiracy against Moïse as part of a group of around 20 military trained Colombians and some Haitian-US dual citizens.

The head of state of the Caribbean country was killed with twelve shots on the night of July 7th last year in his residence in Port-au-Prince.

The Colombians are said to have been originally recruited to bring Moïse under the pretext of an alleged arrest warrant.

The now arrested said, however, according to the information that he had been informed by accomplices no later than July 6th that Moïse should be murdered instead.

He faces life imprisonment.

Haiti's prime minister reports an attack on him

One of the suspects, a US Haitian, was reported to have been in Florida a few days before the crime and asked alleged accomplices there for assistance in the arrest of Moïse.

He was arrested in Haiti after the murder, along with dozen others - including 18 Colombians.

Another three Colombians were killed.

The background to the act has so far remained unclear.

It was only on Monday that Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry claimed to have escaped an alleged attack.

There was an attempted assassination against him, he was "in the line of fire," said Henry.

According to Henry, the attempted attack was perpetrated in the city of Gonaïves on Saturday while he was attending Haitian Independence Day celebrations.

A video spreading on social media shows Henry and his followers climbing into their vehicles when an armed group opened fire in front of the cathedral in Gonaïves.

mrc / dpa