Some of the former Colombian servicemen arrested after last week’s assassination of Haiti’s president previously received U.S. military training, according to the Pentagon, raising fresh questions about the United States’ ties to Jovenel Moïse’s death.
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,” Lt. Col. Ken Hoffman, a Pentagon spokesman,
said in a statement to The Washington Post.
The
Pentagon’s review is ongoing, Hoffman said. He did not say how many of the men
received training or precisely what it entailed.
Sen.
Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), whose legislation provides oversight of foreign
defense aid used in human rights abuses, said the episode was a grim reminder
that U.S. assistance to other countries can take unexpected turns.
“This
illustrates that while we want our training of foreign armies to build
professionalism and respect for human rights, the training is only as good as
the institution itself,” Leahy said.
“The
Colombian army, which we have supported for 20 years, has a long history of
targeting civilians, violating the laws of war and not being accountable. There
has been a cultural problem within that institution.”
Colombian
officials initially said that 13 of 15 Colombian suspects in the July 7
assassination plot once served in that country’s military, including the two
killed by Haitian authorities after Moïse was fatally shot inside his home.
It is
common for Colombian troops and other security personnel across Latin America
to receive U.S. training and education. Colombia, in particular, has been a
significant U.S. military partner for decades, receiving billions of U.S.
dollars since 2000 in its effort to battle drug trafficking organizations,
leftist guerrillas and far-right paramilitary groups.
That
effort has included CIA-backed missions and a close relationship between
Colombian military personnel and the U.S. Green Berets, who help train their
elite counterparts in guerrilla warfare. A Colombian commando school is modeled
on the Army’s grueling Ranger School, and the two militaries’ partnership dates
to at least the 1950s.
Colombian
military and police also use U.S.-provided weapons and equipment, an agreement
that came under scrutiny earlier this year after police there killed multiple
protesters during demonstrations against government tax proposals. A related
analysis by The Post, published in May, found that Colombian authorities
overstepped their own rules of engagement in some of the deadly encounters.
Fighting
in Colombia’s decades-long war has been a springboard for military veterans to
trade their U.S.-funded experience for hire in other global conflicts, such as
in Yemen.
“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,” the commander of Colombia’s armed forces, Gen. Luis Fernando
Navarro, told reporters last week.
Foreign
military training provided by the United States is intended to promote “respect
for human rights, compliance with the rule of law, and militaries subordinate
to democratically elected civilian leadership,” Hoffman, the Pentagon
spokesman, said in his statement. He did not immediately respond to questions seeking
additional information.
The
disclosure that some of the assassination suspects received U.S. training,
which has not been previously reported, is certain to complicate the already
murky understanding of how the plot to kill Moïse took shape, and who was
involved.
Two U.S.
citizens of Haitian descent are among those who have been arrested, and Haitian
authorities identified five companies associated with the case, including CTU
Security, based in Florida. Colombian police also identified 19 plane tickets
purchased by a company credit card registered in Miami. The tickets were used
by some of the 21 Colombian suspects to travel from Bogotá, Colombia, to Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic, authorities said.
Christian
Emmanuel Sanon, 63, an American doctor and pastor who frequently traveled
between Haiti and Florida, was arrested in connection with the plot.
Authorities have claimed he was positioning himself to run for president in the
impoverished Caribbean nation and had a role in hiring the alleged assassins,
but they have provided little evidence about his alleged involvement.
To date,
Haitian authorities have arrested at least 20 people in connection with Moïse’s
death, which has plunged the country into a leadership crisis. Late Wednesday,
officials confirmed they had detained the presidential palace’s head of
security.
Authorities
in Haiti are investigating Moïse’s killing with assistance from the FBI,
Department of Homeland Security officials and personnel from Colombia’s
government. President Biden has condemned the assassination and appealed for
calm, but his administration has rebuffed requests from Haiti’s government for
American military assistance to help shore up security.
***Samantha
Schmidt, Widlore Merancourt, Rachel Pannett and Anthony Faiola contributed to
this report.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-military-once-trained-colombians-implicated-in-haiti-assassination-plot-pentagon-says/ar-AAMbYph