The Colombian government has confirmed that at least six people of those who were either captured or killed in Haiti as part of the operation to arrest alleged perpetrators of the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise were retired Colombian military personnel.
"… They are Colombian citizens, former members of the National Army," Defense Minister Diego Molano said in a statement for local media.
The information about "four retired soldiers of the National Army" was also confirmed by the head of the Colombian police, Luis Vargas.
According to Haitian police chief Leon Charles, the gang that killed the president consisted of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans.
Fifteen Colombians were captured, three were killed, the rest are on the run. The Americans were identified as James Solages and Joseph Vincent. According to Haitian media reports, the detainees claimed to have been hired as "interpreters" for the Colombians and had no intention to kill Moise. However, 12 bullets fired at the president suggest otherwise.
The Taiwanese embassy said that the Haitian police have detained eleven suspects on its territory. It remains unclear yet what kind of people those suspects are.
The Haitian police have confiscated ammunition, dollars, assault rifles, machetes, two-way radios, hammers and bolt cutters, body armor, two rental car license plates and many cell phones.
"It was a well-equipped team with more than six cars and a lot of equipment,” said Haitian Election and Party Affairs Minister Mathias Pierre.
It is worth recalling here that on May 3, 2020, the Venezuelan authorities seized a group of mercenaries who were going to stage a coup in the country. According to the Venezuelan Interior Ministry, they arrived from Colombia in speedboats. Eight mercenaries were killed, 13 were detained. Radio communications, night vision devices, weapons and camouflage clothing were seized from them. According to President Nicholas Maduro, the operation was prepared by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and was carried out by private company SilverCorp, with two retired US military men in the group.
Interestingly, the attackers, who entered the private residence of the Haitian president, reportedly said that they were from the DEA. This American organization is omnipotent in Latin America. It allegedly takes part in the fight against drug trafficking.
In 1868, US President Andrew Johnson proposed the annexation of Hispaniola Island, which consisted of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, in order to secure US military presence in the West Indies to counter France and Germany. From 1889 to 1891, the United States had tried to lease Mol-Saint-Nicholas, a city on the northern coast of Haiti, strategically suitable for a naval base, although to no avail.
In 1910, US President William Howard Taft granted a large loan to Haiti in a hope that the country could pay off its international debt to France, thereby reducing its influence. That year, Taft dispatched an infantry corps to restore order and maintain political and economic stability in the Caribbean following the assassination of the President of Haiti in July 1915. The Americans withdrew $500,000 from the Haitian National Bank for storage in New York, thereby giving the United States control over the country's foreign exchange resources.
The same year, US President Woodrow Wilson ordered an intervention in Haiti, having turned it into a protectorate, or rather a colony. The occupation lasted for 18 years and claimed the lives of thousands of people. The Americans eventually left, but they also left the Constitution written in the United States.
USA's influence in Haiti grew stronger when the dictatorship of François Duvalier was established in 1957. Duvalier's rule lasted until 1986, when his son, also a bloody dictator, was overthrown as a result of a popular uprising.
The 2010 devastating earthquake gave Washington an opportunity, through a group of organizations including the Clinton Foundation, to strengthen its economic, social and political control over Haiti. Noteworthy, assistance from the United States after the Haitian earthquake was insufficient and ineffective.
Moise, the assassinated President of Haiti, wanted to adopt a new Constitution at a referendum in September, which would considerably strengthen the power of the president. He also wanted to hold general elections, but Washington did not support the democratic initiative.
In a commentary for Pravda. Ru, Vladimir Vasiliev, Chief Researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada, noted that the assassination of the Haitian president could have been objective or had been ordered.
The objectiveness lies in the elimination of a corrupt politician, who may not have come to terms with synergy businesses of red brigades, drug dealers and shady traders.
The second version is about the plan of a coup d'etat in Haiti. "It is not ruled out that the forces around Moise, the ruling elite, took advantage of those mercenaries," the expert believes.
The expert does not believe that the United States was behind the assassination of the Haitian president. The US administration fears that his assassination may incite anti-American sentiments in the wake of unresolved social problems in the region.
"The USA fears that the traditional relations between those countries will develop, and those countries share negative attitude to the United States," Vladimir Vasiliev told Pravda. Ru
The expert considers it unlikely that the United States was behind Moise's assassination.
"The United States of America, naturally, could resort to completely different methods to remove Moise from power, but the US administration had no interest to do that," said Vladimir Vasiliev.
There are anti-American forces that took advantage of the situation, the expert continued.
"One gets the impression that the Venezuelan authorities are trying to shift the blame on the US. I think it can be possible. This once again shows, together with the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, that the United States, during Joseph Biden's presidency, has been losing control over entire regions of the world. It appears that the USA is retreating, being unable to provide both economic assistance and military influence," said Vladimir Vasiliev.