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Haitian Fugitive Ordered Colombians to Kill Moise, Police Say

Haitian Fugitive Ordered Colombians to Kill Moise, Police Say

A former official with Haiti’s Ministry of Justice gave the order to mercenaries to assassinate President Jovenel Moise, according to Colombian police.

Three days before the murder, Joseph Felix Badio, who also formerly worked in an anti-corruption unit, told the leaders of the Colombian team that they were no longer going to arrest Moise but to kill him, Colombian Police Director Jorge Luis Vargas said Friday.

Vargas said that only part of the hit team -- which Haitian authorities say consisted of 26 Colombians and two Haitian American translators -- entered Moise’s home on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince in the July 7 killing.

“We know who the people were in the first car -- how they did it,” Vargas said of the group that presumably entered Moise’s home. “We are sharing that information,” with Haitian authorities.

On Tuesday, Haiti issued arrest warrants for Badio, Haitian Senator John Joel Joseph, and a convicted drug trafficker named Rodolphe Jaar in connection with the murder. Attempts to to contact the men for comment have been unsuccessful.

More than 20 people, including 18 Colombians and the head of Moise’s security team, Dimitri Herard, have been detained in recent days.

Colombian and U.S. officials have been assisting in the investigation into the first murder of a Haitian sitting president in more than a century.

Moise, 53, will be buried on July 23 in the northern city of Cap-Haitien.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.