Reports surfaced that the Haitian government has claimed that 21 Colombians worked as private contractors to help assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Moise.
A spokesperson from the Pentagon issued a statement to the Washington Post saying “a small number” of Colombians arrested in Port-au-Prince were a part of United States education and training programs. Lt. Colonel Ken Hoffman went on to say, “A review of our training databases indicates that a small number of the Colombian individuals detained as part of this investigation had participated in past U.S. military training and education programs while serving as active members of the Colombian Military Forces.” It was also noted that the Colombian Military and police use equipment and weapons provided by the U.S., with Colombian police coming under fire for killing multiple protesters going against government tax proposals with those same tools.
Previously, General Luis Fernando, a commander of Colombia’s armed forces spoke on the Colombia contractors, saying “The recruitment of Colombian soldiers to go to other parts of the world as mercenaries is an issue that has existed for a long time, because there is no law that prohibits it.” News of this comes after it was revealed that a few of the men involved in the assassination were previously working with the DEA.