13th July, 2021
One of the Haitian Americans arrested over the assassination of Haiti’s president last week was an ex-informant of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, (DEA).
This was revealed by a DEA official on Monday.
However the official declined to reveal the identity of the former agent.
Haitian authorities last week arrested two Haitian Americans, Joseph Vincent, 55, and James Solages, 35.
Both were charged with joining 26 Colombians in the fatal attack on Haitian President Jovenel Moise.
“One of the suspects in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise was a confidential source to the DEA,” the DEA official said in an email to Reuters.
He said the suspect had reached out to the DEA after the assassination and that it urged him to surrender.
“These individuals were not acting on behalf of DEA.”
The suspect was not an active informant at the time of the assassination, a law enforcement source said.
A third Haitian American, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a medical doctor was arrested on Sunday by Haitian authorities.
He was accused of being the mastermind of the attack.
U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies are probing why the Haitian Americans were involved in the assassination.
A source close to the investigation said Solages and Vincent told investigators they were translators for the Colombian commando unit.
The Colombians claimed they had an arrest warrant.
But when they arrived, they found Moise dead.
Florida records show Solages has held security officer and firearm licenses.
Few details have emerged about Joseph Vincent.