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Two US citizens are among 28 people detained for the assassination of the Haitian president, the national police chief said.
Jovenel Moise, 53, was gunned down by suspected mercenaries at his home in Port-au-Prince, the capital of the impoverished Caribbean island, in the early hours of Wednesday.
Officials said the attack was carried out by “a highly trained and heavily armed group,” whose members spoke Spanish or English.
National Police Chief Charles Leon paraded 17 of the suspects past a reporter at a press conference on Friday, alongside passports, assault rifles, machetes and hammers used as evidence in the case.
He said two Haitian-Americans were among those arrested for the murder of Mr. Moise, including one who worked as a bodyguard at the Canadian embassy in Port-au-Prince.
Mathias Pierre, the Haitian minister of elections, named the couple James Solages, 35, and Joseph Vincent, 55. The US State Department said it was aware of reports of the arrests but did not confirm them.
The other 26 detainees are from Colombia, Charles said, adding that three other suspects were killed by police and eight are on the run.
“Foreigners have come to our country to kill the president,” he told reporters.
First Lady Martine Moise was seriously injured in the assault on the private residence and was flown to Miami for treatment.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that the US Embassy in Haiti is restricting the movement of US citizens recruited directly from the site and their family members until further notice.
Two of the six suspects were arrested after a crowd found them hiding in bushes in Port-au-Prince.
Witnesses said residents grabbed the two men by their shirts and pants, pushing and sometimes slapping them. The two were then arrested when police arrived and placed in the back of a truck.
Haitian Prime Minister Claude Joseph called on citizens to hand over suspects to officers and not to attack them.
Earlier Thursday, hundreds of residents gathered outside a police station in the capital where some of those suspected of being involved were being held.
People in the crowd shouted “burn them” and set fire to several abandoned cars riddled with bullet holes which they said belonged to the suspects.
At a press conference, Mr Charles urged people to stay calm, return home and let the police do their job by warning that authorities need evidence they are destroying, including the cars that were set on fire .
Prime Minister Claude Joseph assumed the leadership of the country with the support of the police and the army.
On Thursday, he called on people to reopen businesses and return to work as he ordered the international airport to reopen, a day after declaring a two-week state of siege.
Wednesday’s atrocity was condemned by Haiti’s main opposition parties and the international community, including US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
In February, Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay reported from Haiti on the violence and unrest in the country.
The impoverished Caribbean country had grown increasingly unstable and unhappy with Mr Moise’s reign, prompting an eruption of protests, kidnappings and organized crime.
In recent months, opposition leaders have demanded that he resign, arguing that his term legally ended in February.
But Mr Moise and his supporters maintained his tenure began when he took office in early 2017, as an interim government ruled the country for a year after his election victory in 2016.
Mr Moise had ruled by decree for more than a year after the country failed to hold an election, which led to the dissolution of parliament in January 2020.
Haiti was due to hold general elections later this year.
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