Turning to that stunning assassination of Haiti's President, Jovenel Moise. Haitian authorities say two of the 17 suspects who have been detained so far are believed to hold dual U.S.-Haitian citizenship. While eight more suspects have been detained and 3 others had been killed by police, Haitian authorities have vowed they will get to the bottom of the horrific assassination.
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The Haitian Americans who are now believed to have assassinated the Haitian President two days ago were identified as James Solages and Joseph Vincent. Solages, a 35-year-old, is currently the youngest of all the 17 suspects.
The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports that Haitian Americans were in custody, but did not confirm or comment.
Canada's foreign relations department released a statement saying one of the men who allegedly assassinated the Haitian President had been "briefly employed as a reserve bodyguard" at its embassy in Haiti by a private contractor. But no further detail was given.
Witnesses said two of the suspects were discovered to have been hiding in bushes in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Some people in the crowd grabbed the men by their shirts and pants, pushed them and occasionally slapped them. Police officers were seen putting the pair in a police car and drove away as the crowd who discovered the pair ran after the car to a nearby police station.
"They killed the President! Give them to us! We're going to burn them!" The crowd chanted outside the police station.
The scene quickly turned ugly as people waiting outside the police station set several abandoned cars riddled with bullet holes on fire. The cars were believed to belong to the two suspects.
Having been studying pictures and other evidence available with a fine-tooth comb, a Haitian judge involved in the investigation into the shocking assassination said the Haitian President was shot a dozen times, and his bedroom and office were ransacked.
The Interim President, Claude Joseph, asked people to reopen business and get back to work, and ordered the reopening of the country's international airport today. Meantime, he reprimanded those who are now suspected of partaking in what he called a blatant attempt at imperiling the lives of Haitians, and exacerbating the country's political predicament, saying the assassination of Moise was a callous and barbaric act. He added that some Haitians' ostensible goal was to stop the President from ruling by decree, but in reality, they were trying to unseat the government and kill the President.
Acknowledging that the assassination has impacted the country's stability considerably, the Interim President decreed a two-week state of siege on the heels of the assassination.
A U.N. special envoy presided over an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss the situation in Haiti, and Haitian officials had reportedly asked for additional security assistance.
Haiti's travails have been unique under Moise, whom many Haitians considered an increasingly authoritarian leader. The country was plagued by violent protests under Moise as critics accused the President of attempting to amass more power, while the opposition demanded his resignation.
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