Officials are today (July 8) confirming that Haiti’s police have killed or apprehended the suspected killers of President Jovenel Moise, and are hunting for the masterminds behind the assassination that stunned the impoverished Caribbean nation.

According to a Washington Post report, among the group of six suspects that have been apprehended thus far is James Solages, a United States citizen of Haitian descent, and a detainee believed to be a Haitian American.

Police Chief Leon Charles said in a televised briefing on Thursday (July 8) that authorities had tracked down the suspected assassins to a house near the scene of the crime in Petionville, a northern suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince.

Moise, 53, was shot dead early on Wednesday (July 7) at his home by what officials said was a commando of apparently foreign, trained killers, pitching the poorest country in the Americas deeper into turmoil amid political divisions, hunger, and widespread gang violence.

Speaking on the matter, Charles stated: “We have the physical authors, now we are looking for the intellectual authors.”

He noted that it was the local population that had helped the police track down the suspects but he implored citizens not to take justice into their own hands.

A 15-day state of emergency was declared on Wednesday to help authorities apprehend the killers, however interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said on Thursday it was time for the economy to reopen and said he had given instructions for the airport to restart operations.

Haitian leadership hangs in the balance

Moise’s death has generated confusion about who is the legitimate leader of the country of 11 million people, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

Haiti’s 1987 constitution stipulates the head of the supreme court should take over, but amendments that are not unanimously recognized state it be the prime minister, or, in the last year of a president’s mandate – like in the case of Moise – the parliament should elect a president.

Adding further complications: the head of the supreme court died last month due to COVID-19 amid a surge in infections in one of the few countries worldwide to have yet to start a vaccination campaign.

Additionally there is no sitting parliament as Haiti failed to hold legislative elections in late 2019 amid political unrest.