The US Pentagon on Thursday revealed some of the ex-Colombian soldiers suspected to have assassinated President Jovenel Moise of Haiti had been trained under the US military.
The president, according to authorities, was shot to death at his residence last July 7. Behind the crime were 26 Colombians and a couple of Haitian Americans.
Of the Colombians, three have died and eighteen were captured and put behind bars. They were hired to serve as bodyguards, as what their families in Colombia shared to the media.
“A review of our training databases indicates that a small number of the Colombian individuals detained as part of this investigation had participated in past US military training and education programs, while serving as active members of the Colombian Military Forces,” Lt. Col. Ken Hoffman, Pentagon spokesperson, said in a statement to Al Jazeera.
The spokesperson did not specify the exact number of arrested Colombians that were under the US military in the past.
He said that the US military makes rounds of training that “emphasizes and promotes respect for human rights, compliance with the rule of law, and militaries subordinate to democratically elected civilian leadership” for service members from the region.
Under investigation
A security firm in Miami, Florida, meanwhile, is under scrutiny as the ex-Colombian soldiers suspected to took part in the assassination plot were under them.
CTU Security’s owner Antonio “Tony” Intriago seemed to have taken the opportunity to hire ex-military members for a Haiti mission.
Haitian and Colombian police officials are now investigating him.
Intriago on Wednesday was accused of Haiti National Police Head Leon Charles to have gone to Haiti several times to prepare for the assassination plan.
“The investigation is very advanced,” Charles said, without further going into details.
