Everything we know about the Americans arrested in connection with Haiti president’s assassination

James Solages, 35, and Joseph Vincent, 55, are identified as the Americans arrested

Two men who were believed to hold dual US-Haitian citizenship have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse, according to Haitian authorities.

Haiti’s minister of elections and inter-party relations, Mathias Pierre, identified US citizens James Solages, 35, and Joseph Vincent, 55, as the two Americans detained following the killing.

Mr Solages was a native of Jacmel, a city in southern Haiti, but lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While the Facebook page of Mr Solages has been removed, Heavy.com released details from the search thumbnail, which revealed that the social media page was the same as the man identified by Haiti officials.

A biography from a non-profit operating in Haiti describes Mr Solages as president of its board of directors and who was previously “chief commander of bodyguards for The Canadian embassy in Haiti”.

The organisation, Jacmel First, is a small charity that focuses on giving grants to women in the Haitian city, according to its website. The primary objective is to reduce poverty and promote education and better health systems in the country, which has long been wracked by poverty and suffered a catastrophic earthquake in 2010.

Federal tax records show that Mr Solages claimed 60 hours of work through the organisation in 2019, which took in more than $11,000, The New York Times reports. He was a consultant, building engineer and “certified diplomatic agent”, according to his website.

Although the charity’s website described Mr Solages work experience one way, his LinkedIn profile painted a different image. His past jobs show Mr Solages in maintenance positions, such as being an “Operations Maintenance Specialist”.

His last listed place of employment was “Regional Maintenance” for a senior living facility in Lantana, Florida.

Florida resident Schubert Dorisme, 63, who is Mr Solages uncle, described the man as a “good boy, respectful,” when speaking to Insider. He added that Mr Solages was “always working hard”.

“I think somebody played on his mind for him to do something like that,” Mr Dorisme said. “It’s not him. It’s not the James I know.”

He told the publication that Mr Solages is a father of four children and has no military experience, which was why his alleged involvement comes as a surprise.

Mr Vincent was the other Haitian American arrested in connection to the assassination, but little was known about the man.

Clément Noël, a judge who is involved in the investigation and spoke to both men, told The New York Times that the Americans told him the plot was planned intensively over the last month.

Additionally, the plan was allegedly just to kidnap the president and bring him to the national palace, not assassinate Mr Moïse, according to the Americans.

Mr Vincent told the judge that he had been in Haiti for the last six months and was staying with his cousin, while Mr Solages was in the country for one month.

The president was shot dead and his wife was seriously wounded in an attack at their home by a group of men early on Wednesday around 1am local time.

Video footage emerged after the assassination of an attacker yelling “this is a DEA operation” with an American-sounding accent.

The footage was taken in the dark of night looking down on the property of Mr Moïse, with one of the men using a megaphone to claim they were agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). While the US embassy confirmed to the Associated Press that the DEA has an office in the Haitian capital, Department of State spokesman Ned Price denied the US had any involvement in the murder. Haiti ambassador Bocchit Edmond said previously they were “fake DEA”, based on his impression from security camera footage.

Mr Solages told the judge that he was the man who yelled “this is a DEA operation” during the attack and claimed the two Americans operated as translators for the hit squad.

The judge was also told that Mr Solages found the translator job through an online job posting, but he would not say how much either he or the other American was paid.

Mr Vincent claimed the broader plot was orchestrated by a foreigner named “Mike” who spoke both English and Spanish. No further details were provided on the foreigner, Judge Noël said.