Haiti has descended into further turmoil in the aftermath of President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination, with questions swirling around who was involved in the midnight attack, what countries they hailed from—and who’s actually running the country now.
Since Moïse’s death, Claude Joseph, who had resigned as prime minister shortly before the assassination, has taken the reins of the country as interim prime minister. But he’s faced resistance from Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who Moïse had named as prime minister days before his death.
Now a third candidate has emerged: Joseph Lambert, the head of the Haitian Senate, told the Miami Herald that the remaining 10 of the 30-member body had elected him provisional president on Friday.
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Haiti’s indecision of who’s in power adds another layer of uncertainty to a country already on the edge.
Haiti took the unusual step of requesting assistance from the U.S. military to help protect the country’s infrastructure in the wake of Moïse’s death, including potential attacks on its port and energy structures. The request was raised in a conversation between Joseph and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Wednesday, along with a letter to the U.S. embassy in the country that same day.
But a senior U.S. official told Reuters on Friday there were “no plans to provide U.S. military assistance at this time.”
The request and subsequent denial comes as the investigation sprawls into a web of different leads—including whether those protecting the president were involved.
Bedford Claude, the country’s chief prosecutor, confirmed plans to bring Moïse’s top bodyguards in for questioning Wednesday, according to The New York Times. That includes Jean Laguel Civil, the head of presidential guard; Dimitri Hérard, the presidential palace’s head of security; and two other guardsmen.
The goal is to discover how about 25 individuals managed to break into the presidential palace, fire at least 12 shots at the country’s top figure and even gouge his eye out. The bodyguards have not been accused of any wrongdoing.
The country is also examining the nature of any foreign involvement.
Haitian police said they detained 18 Colombian nationals along with two Haitian Americans in connection with the attack. The Colombian government confirmed Friday that 13 of the suspects are former members of the Colombian military, including two people killed in a standoff with Haitian authorities after the assassination, according to The Wall Street Journal. At least five suspects are still at large.
The Taiwanese government also confirmed Friday it detained 11 fully armed men suspected of being involved in the attack at its embassy in Port-au-Prince on Thursday. Officials alerted Haitian police to the men’s presence, with authorities arresting them shortly after.
