The U.S. will not be sending troops to Haiti, according to a senior administration official, after the Caribbean nation’s government requested help to stabilize the country and secure critical infrastructure like oil reserves and its port and airport in the wake of the assassination of its president earlier this week.
The U.S. has agreed to send senior officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to Haiti to assist the government’s investigation of the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, the White House announced Friday.
The deployment of U.S. forces would have marked a major escalation of U.S. involvement.
The pledge for FBI and DHS assistance comes after two U.S. citizens were among the 17 men arrested by Haitian authorities for the head of state’s shocking murder, which threatens to plunge Haiti further into chaos amid competing claims to power.
One of the detained Americans has been identified as 35-year old James Solanges, according to Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s elections minister, who declined to name the other American.
On a website for his charity, Solanges, a Florida resident, described himself as a “certified diplomatic agent” and said he previously worked as a bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti — claims that ABC News could not independently verify.
Late on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that the U.S. has sent the FBI in to assist with the investigation.
Source-ABC
