More suspects arrested in assassination of Haitian president

“We are going to bring them to justice,” the police chief said, as the 17 handcuffed suspects sat on the floor during a news conference Thursday.

Investigative Judge Clément Noël told the French-language newspaper Le Nouvelliste that the Haitian-Americans arrested, James Solages and Joseph Vincent, said the attackers originally planned only to arrest Moïse, not kill him. Noël said Solages and Vincent were acting as translators for the attackers, the newspaper reported Friday.

Moïse’s brazen killing at his home in an attack before dawn Wednesday that also seriously wounded his wife stunned a nation already reeling from poverty, widespread violence and political instability.

Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who assumed leadership with the backing of police and the military, declared a two-week “state of siege,” and asked people to return to work and reopen businesses that were shut down in normally bustling Port-au-Prince. He also ordered the international airport to reopen.

Colombia’s government said it had been asked by Haiti about six of the suspects, including two of the three killed, and had determined they were retired members of its army. It offered its full cooperation.

“A team was formed with the best investigators,” said Gen. Jorge Luis Vargas, the head of Colombia’s police. “They are going to send dates, flight times, financial information that is already being collected to be sent to Port-au-Prince.”

U.S.-trained Colombian soldiers are heavily recruited by private security firms in global conflict zones because of their experience in a decades-long war against leftist rebels and powerful drug cartels.

The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports that Haitian-Americans were in custody but would not comment.