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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Haiti acting PM calls for US troops
Haitian Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, center, speaks during a news conference in Port-au-Prince on Thursday. Photo: AP
‘RESOLVING THE SITUATION’: It remains unclear who masterminded the attack carried out by international assailants posing as US drug enforcement personnel
/ AP, PORT-AU-PRINCE
Haiti’s interim government on Friday said it has asked the US to deploy troops to protect key infrastructure as it tries to stabilize the country and prepare the way for elections in the aftermath of Haitian president Jovenel Moise’s assassination on Wednesday.
“We definitely need assistance and we’ve asked our international partners for help,” Haitian Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph told The Associated Press in a telephone interview late on Friday. “We believe our partners can assist the national police in resolving the situation.”
The administration of US President Joe Biden has so far given no indication that it might provide military assistance.
For now, it only plans to send FBI officials to assist with the investigation into a crime that has plunged Haiti, a country already wracked by gaping poverty and gang violence, into a destabilizing battle for power and a constitutional standoff.
On Friday, a group of Haitian lawmakers declared loyalty and recognized Haitian Senator Joseph Lambert as provisional president in a direct challenge to the interim government’s authority.
They also recognized as prime minister Ariel Henry, whom Moise had selected to replace Joseph a day before he was killed, but who had not yet taken office or formed a government.
Joseph expressed dismay that others would try to take advantage of Moise’s death for political gain.
“I’m not interested in a power struggle,” said Joseph, who assumed leadership with the backing of the police and military. “There’s only one way people can become president in Haiti, and that’s through elections.”
Among those detained or killed in connection to the assassination are two Haitian Americans, including one who worked for a charity founded by US actor Sean Penn following the nation’s devastating 2010 earthquake.
Among them are also what police described as more than a dozen “mercenaries” who were former members of the Colombian military.
Some of the suspects were seized in a raid on the Taiwanese embassy in Port-au-Prince where they are believed to have sought refuge.
Haitain National Police Director Leon Charles said that another eight suspects were still at large and being sought.
The attack, which took place at Moise’s home before dawn on Wednesday, also seriously wounded his wife, who was flown to the US for surgery.
Joseph said that he has spoken to the first lady, but out of respect for her mourning, has not inquired about the attack.
Colombian officials said the suspects from the country were recruited by four firms and traveled to the Caribbean nation in two groups via the Dominican Republic.
US-trained Colombian soldiers are heavily sought after by private security firms and mercenary armies in global conflict zones because of their experience in a decades-long war against leftist rebels and powerful drug cartels.
Some of the suspects posted on Facebook photographs of themselves visiting the Dominican Republic presidential palace and other tourist spots in the country, which shares a land border with Haiti.
It is not known who masterminded the attack, and questions remain about how the perpetrators were able to penetrate Moise’s residence posing as US Drug Enforcement Administration agents, meeting little resistance from those charged with protecting the president.
Haitian Judge Clement Noel, who is investigating the case, on Friday told Le Nouvelliste newspaper that the arrested Americans, James Solages and Joseph Vincent, said the attackers originally planned only to arrest Moise, not kill him.
Noel said that the Americans were acting as translators for the attackers, the newspaper reported.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
