Haiti President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination partially caught on video
"These were mercenaries," a high-ranking Haitian government official says
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse appears to have been partially caught on camera — with the dramatic clips revealing the sound of multiple gunshots and scenes of armed men following the ambush.
"DEA operation! Everybody stand down!" someone with an American accent is heard saying in English over a loudspeaker in footage first shared by the Miami Herald.
"DEA operation! Everybody back up, stand down!" the warning continued, according to footage filmed around 1 a.m. Wednesday by one of the president’s neighbors in the hills above Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An Eyepress video provided by Reuters also caught the sound of more than 30 gunshots ringing out, with a barking dog the only other audio in the background.
A group of heavily armed men was also filmed by a neighbor standing around the president’s home in Pelerin 5, with one person forced to lie face-down in the middle of the road.
The Miami Herald suggested the men might have been part of the security response after the attack.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HAITIAN PRESIDENT JOVENEL MOÏSE ASSASSINATED AT HOME, OFFICIAL SAYS
However, some appeared to be speaking in Spanish, which would match the claim by Haitian government officials that some of the hit team "were speaking" the language, rather than Haiti’s typical French or Haitian Creole.
They appeared to be part of a convoy of at least five vehicles that was filmed slowly driving away from where the controversial 53-year-old president was shot dead and the first lady injured. The convoy showed the "gunmen leave after the assassination," according to another Eyepress clip shared by Reuters.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Despite the DEA announcement, sources insisted to the Miami Herald that the killers are not thought to be attached to the US agency.
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"These were mercenaries," a high-ranking Haitian government official told the paper.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph — who said he was taking control of the nation — damned the assassination as a "hateful, inhumane and barbaric act."
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