DISINFO: Colombia and the US trying to divert attention in the investigation of the assassination of Haiti’s president
SUMMARY
Assistance or cover up? The truth about the assassination of the president of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, seems increasingly difficult to elucidate. Since the assassination occurred on July 7, a series of revelations, contradictory versions and leaks to the press show how the case directly splashes out the countries that are collaborating with the investigations: Colombia and the United States.
RESPONSE
Through the use of terms like “cover up”, “cloak”, “divert attention” or “involvement”, this disinformation message aims to arise suspicions about the possible participation of US and Colombian governments in the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse.
The claim that US and Colombian authorities are trying to cover something in the investigation of the crime is not backed by any evidence. On the contrary, US and Colombian authorities have been transparent about their findings on the suspected murderers, such as the fact that some of them had received US military training when they were active members of the Colombian army - a fact that is deliberately ignored in this disinformation story to imply that they were active US operatives - or that one of them had been a former DEA informant, as well as many other details found by Colombian investigators. Journalistic investigations revealed that some of the Colombian mercenaries arrested as suspects were indeed misled at least in an early stage of the operation, and were initially hired as security personnel.
This disinformation message is part of a wider effort to frame the US and Colombia as responsible for recent events in Latin America, such as shootings between criminal gangs and Venezuelan security forces in Caracas (see here for our previous debunk of these false allegations). The Venezuelan government has openly accused Colombia of “sending mercenaries to murder presidents in the region” and is actively trying to link Moïse’s murder to the so-called Operation Gideon (a failed mercenary landing in Venezuela in May 2020), accusing the US and Colombia of being behind both operations in a letter sent to the UN Security Council on 11 August 2021. All these dubious narratives promoted by Venezuelan authorities have been actively amplified by pro-Kremlin disinformation.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the US and Colombia refuse to provide explanations for the murder of Haiti’s president, that they “help” to investigate the crime only to hide their own involvement, or that the former Colombian ambassador confessed that Washington was involved in destabilisation of Venezuela and Haiti.