Haiti's Presidential Security Members Do Not Show Up To Testify

On Tuesday, two of the police chiefs responsible for the presidential security did not appear before the Court of First Instance to testify about their alleged involvement in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

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Prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude confirmed that neither the CAT Team Chief Inspector Amazan Paul Eddy nor the Presidential Security Coordinator Jean Laguel went to the Palace of Justice in Port-au-Prince.

The General Inspectorate of the Police did not respond to the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office to issue the permits required by the members of the police force to appear to testify and, for this reason, they did not show up at the courthouse.

The summons of those responsible for Moise's protection aims at clarifying the events of the July 7 attack, in which no member of the presidential security apparatus was injured.

On Monday, former senators Youri Latortue and Steven Benoit appeared to testify before the judges and denied any link with the assassination of Moise.

U.S. President Joe Biden sent a delegation to Haiti to meet with Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, Prime Minister-designate Ariel Henry, and Senate President Joseph Lambert, all of whom are vying for power. The U.S. government asked Joseph to hold "free elections" as soon as possible.

Canada also asked Joseph to dialogue with all Haitian political forces to overcome the crisis triggered by Moise's assassination and develop "a credible plan" to hold elections by the end of the year.

Before his assassination, Moise had proposed holding elections and a referendum to approve a new Constitution in September. The political opposition, however, never agreed with his proposal.