Colombian President Gustavo Petro has decided that his country bears a share of the responsibility for the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moiz committed in 2021 by Colombian mercenaries, adding that his purpose is to go to Haiti to try to contribute to finding a solution in the deep crisis he is experiencing.

“I would like to go to Haiti” for the situation in which “Colombia has co-responsibility. First of all, because Haiti helped us become a state in the past; and then, because it was Colombian mercenaries who went and assassinated the Haitian president, causing the worst crisis this country has ever experienced, said the left-wing president to the media in the Dominican Republic, where he participated in an international conference.

Without specifying the date of his possible visit, Mr. Petros pointed out that it is the Haitian people themselves who must resolve the crisis in their country and that “democratic help is needed”, however not “help with weapons”.

Jovenel Moise was murdered in July 2021 by a group of mercenaries who broke into his private residence in Port-au-Prince, without the intervention of his bodyguards.

The US authorities have detained eleven people, who they accuse of planning the assassination of the head of state in Miami (Florida, southeast). Among the suspects are citizens of the US, Haiti, Venezuela and Colombia.

In addition, at least seventeen Colombian ex-military men are being held in a Port-au-Prince prison in connection with this case.

Based on the US investigation, two heads of a security company in Miami wanted Jovenel Moise kidnapped and replaced by an American-Haitian.

The assassination of President Moise worsened the chaos in the small, impoverished Caribbean country, which was already facing a deep economic, political and humanitarian crisis. Much of it has fallen into the hands of armed gangs, who have killed some 530 people and kidnapped nearly 300 others since January, according to the UN.

Haiti has been a cornerstone of the independence of Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, thanks to the military support it provided to Simón Bolívar in the 19th century.