Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by a group of foreigners — but “there is no doubt” that they had internal help, Haiti’s ambassador to the US said in a televised interview Thursday morning.
“Indeed they were foreigners, but at the same time we need to recognize that they also have had some help,” Ambassador Bocchit Edmond told CNN, citing the logistics involved in breaching Moïse’s residence.
“There is no doubt about it — there is some internal help,” he said. “But the most important thing is, we need to continue with investigations, and look and identify those who finance them, those who paid them to commit this horrible act.”
Edmond declined to speculate on a potential motive for the attack while the probe is ongoing, but said “it’s certain that the head of state cannot be killed just for play.”
“We do hope that the national police will continue to hunt them down because possibly there were more than six,” Edmond said. “We are trying to see how we can make sure that those are caught and identified and be brought to justice.”
Police General Director Leon Charles said late Wednesday that police had killed four of the “mercenaries” and captured two others.
“We blocked them en route as they left the scene of the crime,” he said. “Since then, we have been battling with them. They will be killed or apprehended.”
Edmond told Reuters that the gunmen, whom he described as “foreign mercenaries,” were masquerading as US Drug Enforcement Administration agents as they entered Moïse’s guarded residence under cover of night.
Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who assumed the leadership of Haiti, said the gunmen spoke English and Spanish in a country where the majority speak French or Haitian Creole.