Duberney Capador, killed after assassination of Jovenel Moïse, was hired by security firm to protect ‘important people’, says sister

The sister of one of the alleged Colombian hitmen accused of assassinating Haiti’s president has insisted he is innocent and vowed to clear her dead brother’s name, as a potentially destabilising power struggle gripped the Caribbean country.

Duberney Capador, a retired member of Colombia’s special forces, was one of two Colombians reportedly killed by Haitian security forces last week after the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in Port-au-Prince. More than a dozen citizens of the South American country have so far been arrested, as well as two Haitian Americans.

The hospitalised wife of Haiti's assassinated president, Jovenel Moïse, has given her first public statement since being wounded in the attack that killed him, accusing enemies of wanting 'to kill his dream, his vision, his ideology'. But fresh questions have been raised over Haiti’s official narrative for the assassination, as uncertainty gripped the Caribbean country and the streets of the capital remained eerily quiet amid fears Haiti is lurching into a new phase of political and social upheaval

• Widow of slain Haitian leader allegedly blames political enemies as power struggle intensifies
  

A voice recording on Martine Moïse’s Twitter page accuses enemies of trying to stop democratic change

The widow of the murdered Haitian president Jovenel Moïse has accused shadowy enemies of organising his assassination to stop democratic change, as a struggle for power intensified in the Caribbean nation.

Haiti has been reeling since Moïse was gunned down early on Wednesday at his home in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Martine Moïse, who was wounded in the attack, said her husband was targeted for political reasons.

Seventeen captured men paraded in front of journalists, as police chief says another three were killed and eight remain on the run

A heavily armed commando unit that assassinated Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, was composed of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, authorities have said, as the hunt goes on for the masterminds of the killing.

Moïse, 53, was fatally shot early on Wednesday at his home by what officials said was a group of foreign, trained killers, pitching the poorest country in the Americas deeper into turmoil amid political divisions, hunger and widespread gang violence.

An already struggling and chaotic Haiti is reeling from the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, followed by a reported gun battle in which authorities said police killed four of the murder suspects. Officials have pledged to find all those responsible for the raid on Moïse’s house before dawn on Wednesday. The government has declared a two-week state of emergency to help it hunt the assassins.

• Haiti: four dead after police gunfight with suspected killers of president Jovenel Moïse
• ‘It’s all up in the air’: wary Haitians stay home as power struggle looms
• Haiti reels from murder of president as police hunt assassins

Two-week state of emergency declared as officers reportedly kill four suspects in gun battle after Jovenel Moïse’s death

A struggling and chaotic Haiti is reeling from the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse followed by a reported gun battle in which authorities said police killed four of the murder suspects, detained two others and freed three officers who were being held hostage.

With Port-au-Prince’s airport still closed and residents asked to remain at home, rumours and speculation continued to swirl around the murky circumstances of Moïse’s murder.

Details of assassination of President Jovenel Moïse emerge as political uncertainty grips nation

Disturbing details of the murder of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, are emerging as the Caribbean country grapples with the fallout from what was officially the first assassination of a serving president in the Americas since the shooting of John F Kennedy in 1963.

Moïse, who had been facing mounting public anger over what critics called his reluctance to relinquish power, was shot dead in the early hours of Wednesday at his home in a wealthy suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The first lady, Martine Moïse, was wounded and evacuated to Miami where she is reportedly in a stable condition.

Police say another two attackers have been detained and that assailants will be ‘killed or captured’

Haiti’s security forces have killed four members of a group of “mercenaries” who assassinated President Jovenel Moïse in his home, police chief Leon Charles has said.

“The police is still in combat with the assailants,” Charles said in a televised briefing late on Wednesday, saying that two of the attackers had been detained. Of the rest he said: “They will be killed or captured”.

Assassination of President Jovenel Moïse leaves impoverished Caribbean nation on brink of chaos

The assassination of Haiti’s president early on Wednesday marks the explosive climax of a spiralling political and security crisis – and threatens to open a violent new chapter in the Caribbean nation’s volatile history.

Jovenel Moïse was gunned down at his home in the capital, Port-au-Prince, with witnesses and government officials suggesting the attack was perpetrated by black-clad “mercenaries” posing as DEA agents. His wife, the first lady, Martine Moïse, was also reported to have been wounded in the attack.

• UN agency says 8,500 abandon homes in Port-au-Prince

• Families ‘caught in crossfire’ sleeping on concrete floors

Escalating gang violence has pushed nearly 8,500 women and children from their homes in Haiti’s capital in the past two weeks, according to Unicef.

Officials say the gangs’ fight over territory in Port-au-Prince has forced hundreds of families to abandon burned or ransacked homes in impoverished communities, with many of them staying in gymnasiums and other temporary shelters that are running out of water, food and items like blankets and clothes.