Head of security at Haiti’s presidential palace is in custody in connection with assassination

The head of security at Haiti’s presidential palace is in custody in connection with President Jovenel Moïse’s assassinated on July 7 at his Port-au-Prince home, according to reports. 

Dimitri Hérard, who is the head of the General Security Unit of the National Palace, was questioned at the Inspector General’s office on Wednesday, then transferred to a police station in Port-au-Prince, his associate Carl Martin told CNN. 

Martin told CNN that he’s coordinating Hérard’s legal defense team.

It’s unclear what – if any- charges Hérard is facing. Bed-ford Claude, a Haitian prosecutor, told The Washington Post, ‘The justice [system] wants him to answer questions.’

Dimitri Hérard, who is the head of the General Security Unit of the National Palace, was questioned at the Inspector General’s office on Wednesday. It’s unclear what he’s charged with 

Jovenal Moise, the president of Hait, was murdered in the early hours of July 7 at his home in the capital city, Port-au-Prince

Security forces inspect at the site after an attack at the residence of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on July 7

Four high-ranking members of the president’s security detail are being held in isolation, according to the National Police, but they didn’t say if Hérard was one of the them. 

The Haitian National Police announced the arrest of two more people in connection with the assassination, including Gilbert Dragon, a former police superintendent, and Reynaldo Corvington, who’s accused of providing shelter to the assassins. 

Corvington owns a private security company called Corvington Courier & Security Service, which he established in 1982, according to its website, which provides tips on how to survive a kidnapping. 

During their arrests, Haitian National Police said in a statement that they found several bullet cartridges, an AR-15, two handguns and bulletproof vests in Dragon’s home. 

Christian Emmanuel Sanon, 63, who was arrested in Haiti, i accused of being an organizer of the assassination plot

And found eight rifles, three grenades and a vehicle when Corvington was arrested, according to police. 

These arrests come just three days after Christian Emmanuel Sanon, 63, who’s accused of organized the assignation plot, was taken into custody in Haiti. 

Sanon, who was ties to Florida, entered the country last month on a private plane ‘with the intention of taking the Haitian presidency,’ the National Police said in a statement on Sunday. 

Sanon allegedly recruited the Miami-based CTU Security, which is registered in Florida as the Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy LCC, and CTU Security recruited the Colombians who are accused of carrying out the hit. 

CTU Security is owned by Venezuelan businessman Antonio Intriago, who’s facing questions about his company’s role in the killing. 

Suspects in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise are shown to the media in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Thursday

Footage circulating online purportedly taken by a neighbour of the president shows men with rifles arriving outside the property

Weaponry, mobile phones, passports and other items are being shown to the media along with suspects in the assassination

On Wednesday evening, Léon Charles, head of the Haiti’s National Police, accused Intriago of traveling to Haiti numerous times as part of the assassination plot and of signing a contract while there, but provided no other details and offered no evidence, The Associated Press reported. 

Charles has said that CTU Security used its company credit card to buy 19 plane tickets from Bogota to Santo Domingo for the Colombian suspects allegedly involved in the killing. 

Florida state records show Intriago´s company has changed names in the past dozen years: CTU Security to CS Security Solutions to Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy LLC.

CTU lists two Miami addresses on its website. One is a shuttered warehouse with no signage. The other is a small office suite under a different name. A receptionist said the CTU owner stops by once a week to collect mail.  

The Caribbean nation has spiraled into chaos since the middle-of-the-night murder, with at least three men now claiming to be its leader.

In an effort to quell tensions, President Joe Biden acknowledged the county’s interim government’s request for help and sent a delegation of US officials to Haiti on Sunday to help with security and aid in the investigation.

They will report back to Biden on their findings as US debates its response.

The group of Colombians and Haitian Americans suspected of carrying out the assassination have reportedly told investigators they were there to arrest Moïse, not kill him.

‘They probably were watching and waiting for the opportunity for them to do it,’ said Investigative Judge Clément Noël, who was among the first to question the two Haitian-Americans among the 19 suspects detained so far.

Citing people who had spoken to some of the 19 suspects detained so far, the Miami Herald said they said their mission was to arrest Moïse and take him to the presidential palace.