The coordinator of the presidential guard of Jovenel Moïse, President of Haiti who died on the 7th, was arrested this week on suspicion of having participated in the assassination of the Head of State by bullets at his residence. The announcement was made by the Haitian National Police on Tuesday (27).
Jean Laguel Civil was arrested Monday (25) in the Delmas district, in the capital Port-au-Prince, according to the Reuters news agency. Summoned by the prosecution to testify two weeks ago, the commissioner did not appear to the authorities.
Announcing the arrest is another step in the investigation into Moise’s murder, which ensues with several unanswered questions. The country’s authorities have now focused on investigating the agents responsible for the president’s security – besides Civil, the head of the guard, Dimitri Herard, was arrested on the 15th, who also did not appear for the deposition.
The suspicion is that the agents would have facilitated the assault on the group of mercenaries who murdered Moses. More than 20 people, including retired Colombian soldiers, have been arrested in connection with the case since the investigation began.
In a note signed by Dimitri Herard and disclosed on social networks, the commissioner explains the details of the night of the murder. In the three-page document, it is said that he received a plea for help from Moses at around 1:39 a.m., then left for the president’s residence with reinforcements.
Near the entrance, he reports, officers were confronted by men dressed in black who told them to back off, claiming they were part of a US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) operation – this version, which began to circulate shortly after the crime. , is denied by American diplomacy.
Since they were outnumbered, Herard continued, the officers would have withdrawn to plan an attack on the opponents. Soon after, they learned that the president had been killed and the first lady, Martine, shot dead.
The agent is also under investigation in Bogotá, the Colombian capital, for having made several recent trips to the country, where many suspects reside, and to other places in South America.
Other members of the presidential guard are also targeted by the Haitian authorities. Port-au-Prince government commissioner Bed-Ford Claude called on immigration services to ban four National Police officers from leaving the country. The list includes Herard and Jean Laguel Civil (now in prison), as well as Commissioner Léandre Pierre Osman and Chief Inspector Amazan Paul Eddy.
Police also issued a search warrant on Wednesday against Judge Wendelle Coq Thélot, of the Court of Cassation, the highest court in the country. He had been deposed by Moise.
Amid the climate of uncertainty and social unrest on the streets of the country, this Wednesday marks a week since new Prime Minister Ariel Henry, 71, took office – he was appointed for the post by Moses just before murder. . There are doubts about Henry’s ability and means to alleviate Haiti’s economic and health crisis in the months to come.
The country’s media have treated the start of his term with suspicion, although the prime minister has said in public speeches that he will focus on concrete results, which can be observed in two months by the population.
In an article published this Monday (26) in the Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste, economist Thomas Lalime lists four major challenges that Henry must face: fighting against the insecurity generated by local gangs; organize new elections; improve the living conditions of the population and revive the national economy.
“The government will need to redouble its efforts to improve the standard of living of Haitian citizens, who risk facing the next escalation of the humanitarian emergency: famine,” Lalime wrote.
The body of President Jovenel Moïse was buried last Friday (23) in Cap-Haitien. Other ceremonies in his honor were held over the weekend, attended by representatives from different countries. Itamaraty informed that the Brazilian ambassador in Port-au-Prince, Marcelo Baumbach, represented the country.