Biden resists pressure to send troops to Haiti

Biden resists pressure to send troops to Haiti

Haiti has asked Washington to send troops to help secure infrastructure following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

But U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday appeared to rule out that possibility.

Eve Johnson reports.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday seemed to rule out the possibility of any military intervention in Haiti after the assassination of the Caribbean country's president.

"We were only sending American Marines to our embassy to make sure that they are secure, and nothing is out of whack at all.

But the idea of sending American forces into Haiti is not on the agenda at this moment." President Jovenel Moise was gunned down in his home on July 7th.

An attack that an eyewitness living nearby described for Reuters.

"I was sleeping, it was midnight.

I heard a megaphone with a voice speaking in Creole and another language.

It felt like a dream.

Then I heard some shots...The house started to shake like there was an earthquake." A group of Colombian ex-military - and two Haitian Americans - have been arrested in connection to the killing.

Along with a Haitian man that authorities accuse of masterminding the plot.

On Thursday, Colombia's President Ivan Duque said many of the Colombians had gone to Haiti - apparently in good faith - to work as bodyguards.

Although others, he said, knew a crime was being planned.

"But let's be honest, no matter how much information they had, what is evident is that all of that group participated in the assassination." The Pentagon has confirmed that some of the Colombian mercenaries had received U.S. military training in the past while they served in their country's armed forces.

Police on Thursday said the head of security for the presidential palace has also been arrested.

He is now being questioned about why the attackers did not meet more resistance at the president's home.

Police also denied media reports that linked Haiti's acting prime minister Claude Joseph with the killing.