Former Haitian Justice Ministry official Joseph Felix Badio may have been ordained the murder of Haitian President Jovenel Moise said Colombian police chief General Jorge Vargas on Friday.
Moise was shot dead when assassins armed with assault rifles stormed his private residence in the hills above Port-au-Prince on 7 July.
An investigation by Haitian and Colombian authorities, along with Interpol, into the murder of Moise has revealed that Badio appeared to have given a murder order three days before the attack, Vargas said in an audio message sent in the press by the police.
It was not possible to immediately arrive in Badio to comment. His whereabouts are unclear.
According to Vargas, the investigation showed that Badio had ordered former Colombian soldiers Duberney Capador and German Rivera – who had initially been hired to do security services – to kill Moise.
“Several days earlier, apparently three, Joseph Felix Badio, who was a former official of the Ministry of Justice (Haiti), who worked in the anti-corruption unit with the general intelligence service, told Capador i Rivera that they had to assassinate the president of Haiti, ”Vargas said.
Vargas did not provide any evidence or give further details as to where the information came from.
Capador was killed in a shootout with Haitian police hours after Moise was killed. Rivera remains in custody in Haiti while police continue to search for Badio, who previously worked for the Haitian Ministry of Justice and then the government’s anti-corruption unit until he was fired in May.
More than 20 suspects accused of directly involved in the murder have been arrested, most of them former Colombian soldiers. At least three more the suspects were killed, and the police have said so keep looking for at least seven more.
The Colombian government has said that only a small group of Colombian soldiers knew the true nature of the operation and that the others were deceived.
Also Friday, police chief Leon Charles said 24 police officers were on guard when the president’s house was attacked. He said they have been questioned and that a fifth high rank police officer he has been detained in solitary confinement with four other people, although none has been named a suspect.
Acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph said the government will continue to bring those responsible to justice.
“We will continue to ask questions,” he said.
Airline tickets to Haiti for most of the former soldiers, at least, were bought through a Florida-based company, Worldwide Capital Lending Group, Vargas said Friday.
Officials said earlier that they had been bought by another Florida company, CTU Security, which allegedly recruited the men.
Worldwide issued a statement Thursday saying it was helping to provide a loan to CTU, but said it intended to help fund infrastructure projects sought by Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian doctor and pastor arrested in the plot.
“At no time, during any meeting or conversation with Dr. Sanon or any of his representatives, was there any mention, discussion or suggestion of a murder plot against President Moise or the intention to use force to provoke a change of leadership in Haiti “. said the company.
Supporters of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide celebrate his arrival from Cuba [Fernando Llano/AP Photo]Meanwhile, former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to Haiti on Friday after nearly a month in Cuba, thrilling hundreds of supporters who gathered at the airport.
Aristide, a charismatic but divisive figure in Haiti, received unspecified medical treatment in Cuba.
Aristide’s return adds a potentially volatile element to an already tense situation in the country facing a power vacuum. Aristide has long been one of Haiti’s most polarizing politicians and continues to be popular among many.
He was elected president in 1990, forced into a military coup a year later and restored to power by the U.S. military in 1994 to serve the remainder of his term. As an advocate for the poor and an advocate of left-wing “liberation theology,” he was deeply hated by members of the elite.
