Widlore Merancourt, Anthony Faiola, Rachel Pannett, Shawn Boburg

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The mysterious plot that led to the brazen assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse took on the dimensions of an international affair, bringing together Colombian former military commandos traversing the Dominican Republic, two Haitian Americans from South Florida and a standoff at the Embassy of Taiwan, as authorities sought international assistance in their hunt for the masterminds.

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The impoverished nation of 11 million remained transfixed by questions — including whether the intellectual authors had come from the ranks of Moïse’s more obvious enemies or were potentially far closer to the president.

Bed-ford Claude, a Haitian prosecutor, told The Washington Post he had requested the “interrogation” of Dimitri Herard and Laguel Civil, senior figures in the president’s security detail. In the capital, authorities called for “calm” as angry citizens burned cars allegedly used by the suspects and made rough-and-tumble citizen’s arrests of the hiding Colombians, whose escape plan was either bungled, flawed or nonexistent.

One line of questioning focused on what the participants knew. One of the Americans told investigators they’d been hired as interpreters for an operation they thought was an authorized mission to arrest the president.

Colombian authorities confirmed late Thursday that at least some of the suspects were former members of the Colombian army, saying they had launched an investigation into their alleged involvement. Defense Minister Diego Molano said Interpol had formally requested information about six people allegedly responsible for the act, two of whom had died.

“Initially, the information indicates that they are Colombian citizens, retired members of the national army,” he said.

The head of Colombia’s national police, Gen. Jorge Luis Vargas, said information about their finances, hours and dates of flights will be sent to Port-au-Prince in aid of the investigation.

The bizarre plot killed the 53-year-old president and seriously wounded his wife, Martine, in their home in the Pelerin 5 neighborhood in the hills above Port-au-Prince on Wednesday.

Haitian authorities said two U.S. citizens of Haitian descent, identified as James Solages, 35, and Joseph Vincent, 55, are among those arrested. Haiti’s Le Nouvelliste newspaper, citing investigating judges who had interviewed Solages and Vincent, said the men claimed be interpreters for the assailants. Solages said he had “found the job on the internet.”

“They said they were interpreters. The mission was to arrest President Jovenel Moïse, within the framework of a mandate from an investigating judge, and not to kill him,” Judge Clément Noël told the paper.

Solages said he had been in Haiti for a month and was living not far from the late president’s home. Joseph said he had been in Haiti for six months. Solages told authorities that the mercenaries had been in Haiti for about three months, and that some of them had entered through the Dominican Republic, the newspaper said.

As firefights between police and suspects continued Thursday, the Taiwanese Embassy in Port-au-Prince said Haitian police, with Taipei’s approval, had entered its grounds and seized 11 people who had broken into the compound and were holed up there.

Here’s what to know:

• Moïse was killed at his home early Wednesday by gunmen whose motivation remains unclear. First lady Martine Moïse was wounded in the attack and is being treated in Florida.
• Haitian police have killed at least three suspects and arrested at least 17 others. Those arrested include two U.S. citizens.
• The assassination has led to confusion about who is in charge. Two men claim to be prime minister; one has been recognized by the United Nations.
• Public health organizations fear that the assassination and the surrounding street violence could fuel insecurity and hamper the rollout of coronavirus vaccines.

“The most important new fact is that apparently the mercenaries were not supposed to kill the president, but arrest him. Why? And who paid them remains an enigma,” Robert Fatton, a professor of government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia who has written extensively on Haiti, said in an email. “Now whether the mercenaries are lying to the Haitian police is another question.”

Moïse’s death has generated uncertainty around the legitimacy of Haiti’s leadership and compounded a volatile security situation in the country of 11 million people, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

The United Nations special representative for Haiti, Helen La Lime, told reporters Thursday that the Security Council had discussed behind closed doors a request from Haiti to provide “security assistance” with the investigation amid a deepening political crisis.

“All efforts must be made” to bring those responsible for the assassination of the president to justice, she added.

Authorities are reportedly seeking eight other suspects.

What to know about Haiti, where President Jovenel Moïse was just assassinated

Moïse, a businessman who took office in 2017, ruled by decree after parliamentary terms expired in January 2020. Two men now claim to be prime minister. Moïse was due to install Ariel Henry, a neurologist, as prime minister on Wednesday to replace acting prime minister Claude Joseph — the latest appointment in a revolving door of prime ministers.

The United Nations on Thursday acknowledged the legitimacy of Joseph, who La Lime said was committed to holding elections in September.

Meanwhile, regional neighbors are calling for international intervention to prevent further unrest in a country already unsettled by months of street protests against Moïse’s extended rule. Armed gangs with unclear allegiances have seized control of growing portions of the country, terrorizing the population with kidnappings, rapes and killings.

Colombian President Iván Duque called on the Organization of American States on Wednesday to dispatch an “urgent mission” to protect order. José A. Blanco, the Dominican Republic’s permanent representative to the United Nations, issued a similar request to the international community on Thursday.

“The main concern is security right now,” Blanco told reporters. “We request to have a robust mission in Haiti in order to help the Haitian people restore peace.”

Asked on Thursday if the United Nations should consider restoring some kind of peacekeeping operation, La Lime said Haiti should specify what kind of security assistance it was seeking. The United Nations ended a 15-year peacekeeping mission to the country in 2019.

Anger in Port-au-Prince is growing as authorities try to keep the capital from descending into vigilante justice. Video shared Thursday by Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections and interparty relations, showed two bound suspects — one of them shirtless and both appearing to be in distress — being dragged from a home by a jeering crowd. Mobs burned three of the five vehicles seized by police after the attack.

© Dieu Nalio Chery/AP President Jovenel Moïse, seen wearing a civilian suit, was assassinated early Wednesday morning at his residence.

Police Chief Charles Leon unveiled 17 cuffed suspects before journalists at a news conference late Thursday. On a nearby table was a cache of weapons that authorities said they had seized, including assault rifles and machetes, as well as a tableau of the men’s passports.

Officials have not yet provided evidence of the detainees’ alleged involvement in the assassination, and questions remain about who launched the attack and why. They have said that 28 assailants were involved, with 17 captured, three killed and eight still on the run.

Authorities have said the assault was conducted by a team of “commandos.” That has prompted speculation on social media about how the elite team described by police could penetrate the president’s home, security detail and panic room — but were then caught because they hadn’t planned a successful getaway.

There were conflicting reports on whether security forces had been wounded in the attack. Haitian Judge Carl Henry Destin, who assessed the scene Wednesday morning, told The Post that eyewitnesses he spoke with said that only Moïse, who was killed, and the first lady, who was shot, had been wounded in the assault, in which the attackers claimed to be agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration — a charge U.S. officials deny and Haitian authorities have discounted. But a senior Haitian security official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to talk to the press said others had been injured.

The leader was found dead in his bedroom, on his back in a white, bloodstained shirt and blue pants.

“His body was riddled with bullets,” Destin said. “He had 12 holes you can see. Among them, five are big holes.”

The bedroom had been ransacked, he said. “We saw liquid red, probably blood, around the bed where we saw the president,” Destin said. “We found his body on concrete in front of the bed.”

He said the president’s daughter, Jomarlie Jovenel Moïse, reported seeing her mother with bullet wounds on her right arm. Jomarlie was with her younger brother during the attack. Destin said a maid and another staff member at the home were tied up by the attackers.

How did Taiwan become embroiled in Haiti’s political crisis?

Schubert Dorisme, 63, Solages’s uncle, said in an interview that his family was stunned by their nephew’s alleged involvement in the slaying of the Haitian president and only learned of his arrest by seeing a news story on Facebook. Solages had no military training, he said.

“First of all, I’m sorry for what happened about my president. I am deeply sorry. It feels like my son killed my brother,” Dorisme said outside his home in Tamarac, where relatives of Solages gathered.

“I love my president, and I love James Solages,” he said. “I don’t know how this thing happened. He doesn’t have no military training,” he added.

Dorisme said he was unsure how long his nephew had been visiting Haiti leading up to the assassination, but added that he traveled back and forth periodically to assist in humanitarian and charity efforts in his hometown of Jacmel, where he once unsuccessfully ran for mayor.

Dorisme said family members had never known Solages to have radical political beliefs, though he offered a caveat.

“I think, for me, I think he went down there just for that,” he said, referring to the deadly attack.

Pannett reported from Sydney, Faiola from Miami and Boburg from Washington.