The U.S. sent investigators to Haiti to assist in the investigation into the assassination of Haiti’s president Jovenel Moïse, according to a senior Pentagon official.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said an interagency team from Department of Homeland Security and the FBI were heading to Haiti to assist the investigation. “I think that’s really where our energies are best applied right now, helping the get their arms around investigating this incident,” Kirby said.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby says ‘interagency team’ from DHS and FBI headed to Haiti right now, not U.S. troops following assassination of country’s president @FoxNewsSunday
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) July 11, 2021
Confusion and chaos have followed in the days since President Moïse was assassinated on Wednesday. Neurosurgeon Ariel Henry, who was appointed Prime Minister by Moïse two days before his assassination, and current interim prime minister Claude Joseph are both vying for power in Haiti, creating a “volatile political crisis,” according to The New York Times.
Twenty suspects have been arrested in connection with the assassination as of Saturday, including 2 Haitian Americans, according to CNN. There is a massive manhunt underway for additional suspects. Haitian authorities have called the group “professional killers.”
The armed group who assassinated Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise were “professional killers” consisting of more than two dozen people, including two American citizens and retired members of the Colombian military, authorities have said. https://t.co/00qD8AQePc
— CNN (@CNN) July 9, 2021
Haitian officials began requesting deployment of U.S. Troops Friday, a request which has thus far been denied.