Suspect in Haitian President Jovenel Moïse’s Slaying Arrested in Jamaica

“We’re in contact with Haitian authorities,” the spokesperson stated. Jamaican police had been additionally in touch with brokers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and different worldwide companies with an curiosity within the case, the spokesperson stated.

Mr. Joseph and his kinfolk will probably be dropped at court docket to find out the place they are going to be despatched, the spokesperson added. They had been detained in St. Elizabeth Parish, west of Kingston.

In Haiti, Justice Minister Berto Dorcé stated the federal government will request that Jamaica return Mr. Joseph to Haiti. He added that due to safety considerations in Haiti, the poorest nation within the hemisphere, it could be higher for now for U.S. authorities to carry Mr. Joseph.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Justice Division declined to remark “on the pending investigation.”

Haiti’s Former Interim Prime Minister

Claude Joseph

stated the arrest of John Joël Joseph, who will not be associated to him, ought to assist resolve the assassination of Mr. Moïse. The Haitian president was gunned down final July and his spouse was significantly injured when about two dozen former Colombian troopers allegedly attacked his hillside compound in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The previous interim prime minister stated it was essential that Mr. Joseph not be returned to Haiti, the place the investigation has stalled and the place the previous senator’s life might be in peril.

“If Joseph is distributed again, he might be killed,” stated the previous prime minister. “We would like him within the U.S., the place there’s a correct investigation.”

Haitian police have detained or implicated greater than 40 individuals in reference to the assassination, together with greater than a dozen former Colombian troopers, members of Mr. Moïse’s safety element and a Haitian-American preacher. Not one of the individuals arrested in Haiti has been charged.

The motive for the killing, which has shaken Haiti and set off a surge of violence and kidnappings, hasn’t been made clear.

The U.S. is concerned within the investigation as a result of the plot may need been partly organized in Florida, the place a Miami-area safety agency contracted the previous Colombian troopers, initially to offer safety for a Haitian-American preacher with presidential ambitions. Attorneys for the safety firm’s president deny he had any data concerning the assassination plot and say he was deceived.

A Haitian police report stated Mr. Joseph, the previous senator, is among the important suspects. He allegedly was concerned within the early levels of the plot in opposition to Mr. Moïse and took half in a number of conferences with different alleged conspirators. The report stated that Mr. Joseph rented automobiles utilized by the Colombians on the evening of the assault on Mr. Moïse’s dwelling and that a number of weapons had been discovered when Mr. Joseph’s home was searched after the killing.

Mr. Joseph is the newest key suspect to be arrested outdoors Haiti up to now two weeks as U.S. law-enforcement officers seem like making some headway within the investigation. The U.S. Congress not too long ago handed laws requiring the State Division to situation a report on the Moïse assassination.

Earlier this month the fugitive former Colombian soldier Mario Antonio Palacios, who had been detained in Jamaica on alleged immigration violations, was flown by U.S. officers to Miami, the place he confronted a lot of expenses together with conspiracy to commit homicide. Mr. Palacios had been deported and was on his means again to Colombia, however throughout a layover in Panama agreed to be taken to the U.S., in response to the U.S. Justice Division. Mr. Palacios, who the Justice Division stated had been interviewed by U.S. law-enforcement officers, didn’t enter a plea throughout his Miami court docket look.

Final week Rodolphe Jaar, a convicted drug trafficker and former DEA informant was detained within the Dominican Republic. Mr. Jaar, who in response to a Haitian police report helped arm and home the Colombians alleged to be concerned within the slaying, feared he could be killed if he was returned to Haiti, a senior Dominican official stated. He’s anticipated to be despatched to the U.S., in response to one other senior Dominican official.

—Ingrid Arnesen contributed to this text.

Write to José de Córdoba at jose.decordoba@wsj.com