ASSASSINS OF PRESIDENT WERE 'PROFESSIONAL' MERCENARIES: HAITI ENVOY

The killers presented themselves at the residence of President Jovenel Moise as agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration but their conduct was not in keeping with forces from the US agency, Ambassador Bocchit Edmond said.

FILE: President of Haiti Jovenel Moise (R) arrives with the first lady Martine Moise (L) for the official ceremony of Haiti's 10th earthquake anniversary in Port-au-Prince, on 12 January 2020. Picture: CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP

AFP |

WASHINGTON - The assassins Wednesday of Haiti's president were "professional" mercenaries who disguised themselves as US agents and may have already left the country, Haiti's ambassador to the United States said.

The killers presented themselves at the residence of President Jovenel Moise as agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration but their conduct was not in keeping with forces from the US agency, Ambassador Bocchit Edmond said.

"It was a well-orchestrated attack and those were professionals," Edmond told reporters.

"We have a video and we believe that those are mercenaries."

He also said the first lady, Martine Moise, who was wounded in the attack, would head to Miami for medical treatment.

"I can tell you that necessary arrangements have been made since this morning to move her to a Miami hospital," he said.

The ambassador said an investigation was underway into the assassins' whereabouts, motivations and origins but said they were speaking Spanish to one another.

He added they may have left the country - likely to the neighboring Dominican Republic, a Spanish-speaking country.

"We don't know if they left," he said.

"If they are not in the country right now, there is only one way for them to leave and that is through the borders because there is no plane."

He said a private plane would have been detected by civil aviation authorities but that movement across the border could have gone undetected.