Two U.S. citizens who were arrested for their alleged roles in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise said they served as translators for the gunmen, according to an official who interviewed them.
Clement Noel, a Haitian judge participating in the investigation of the assassination, said Americans James Solages and Joseph Vincent told him they were not in the room when Moise was killed at his residence on Wednesday.
Solages and Vincent said the incident had been planned for over a month and that the group, which included Colombian nationals, had not intended to kill Moise but rather bring him to the national palace, the president’s official residence, Noel told the New York Times.
Moise was killed at his private residence in Petion-Ville near the capital of Port-au-Prince. Haitian first lady Martine Moise, 47, was critically injured during the attack and was flown to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Thursday to treat multiple gunshot wounds.
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The two suspects are among six who were taken into custody in connection to the assassination after authorities engaged suspects in a shootout Wednesday, killing four of the alleged assassins.
At the time they were detained, Solages and Vincent had weapons, clothes, food, and other items used in the assault in their possession, Noel said.
Early accounts of the assassination reported a person among the gunmen yelling in English, “DEA operation. Everybody, stand down. DEA operation. Everybody, back up. Stand down,” over a megaphone.
Noel appeared to confirm the account, saying it was Solages who yelled that the group was with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
The claim that DEA agents were involved in the attack is “absolutely false,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price on Wednesday.
Solages, who said he found the translating job online, told Noel he had been in Haiti for a month, while Vincent said he had been in the country for six months. Solages “replied in a very evasive manner” when asked how much he was paid, Noel said.
The Colombian suspects had been in Haiti for about three months, the men said. Vincent reportedly identified the leader behind the plot as “Mike,” who spoke Spanish and English.
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The 35-year-old Solages is native to Jacmel, Haiti, lived in Broward County, Florida, and was president of a charitable organization devoted to reducing poverty among Haitian women, the New York Times reported. Further information about 55-year-old Vincent was not immediately available.
“We are aware of the arrest of two U.S. citizens in Haiti and are monitoring the situation closely,” a State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner, declining to comment further.
