The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Relations announced this Wednesday that it will reopen its consulate in Haiti, closed more than 20 years ago, and pointed out that he will pay tribute to that country, which was the first in “Latin America and the Caribbean to become independent and free its people.”
The announcement was made after Colombian Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva met with his Haitian counterpart, Jean Victor Geneus, during the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) in Buenos Aires.
Leyva, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement, noted that “He will proceed to name a consul in this country soon.”
“In their meeting they also established the signing of an agreement related to the migratory phenomenon and other issues to consolidate bilateral relations”added the information.
In September of last year, Colombian President Gustavo Petro He apologized to Haiti for the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, a crime for which 18 Colombian mercenaries are imprisoned in Port-au-Prince.
“Today I asked Haiti for forgiveness for the assassination of its president committed by Colombian mercenaries,” Petro wrote on Twitter at the time.
The request for forgiveness constitutes the official position of the new Colombian Government with respect to the assassination, of which retired Colombian Army soldiers who are awaiting trial in Haiti are accused.
The families of the detainees advocate for a fair trial, because the investigations of the case have not made progress.
According to the Haitian Police, 18 retired Colombian soldiers were captured after Moise’s murder on July 7, 2021, and three others were killed.
According to the investigations, the assassination was committed by a command of 26 Colombian mercenaries who broke into the presidential residence at dawn, without encountering resistance from the security forces that guarded the mansion, located in the Pelerin sector, in Port-au-Prince.
With information from the EFE agency*