Four south Florida men convicted in Haitian president’s assassination

Four south Florida men were convicted on Friday of plotting to kill the Haitian president. Jovenel Moïse, in 2021 by hiring mercenaries to assassinate him at his Port-au-Prince home, court records show.

Prosecutors argued during the nine-week trial in a Miami federal court that the men assembled two dozen former Colombian soldiers. supplied them with money, guns, ammunition and tactical vests in a conspiracy to kill Moïse. The 53-year-old president was shot dead in July 2021 at his private residence in the hills above Port-au-Prince, a killing that left a gaping political vacuum in the Caribbean nation. emboldened powerful gangs.

Standing trial were Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, 53, a former FBI informant, Colombian national. permanent US resident; Antonio Intriago, 62, a Venezuelan-American owner of a security firm; James Solages, 40, a Haitian-American handyman; and Walter Veintemilla, 57, an Ecuadorian American.

They were convicted of multiple counts of conspiracy to kill. kidnap a person outside the US resulting in death – and of providing material support or resources to carry out a violation resulting in death.

All four men face life in prison.

A fifth defendant. Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian-born doctor – who court papers say wanted to be named president after Moïse was killed – will be tried later due to health issues.

The killing has prompted multiple investigations. indictments in Haiti and the United States while giving rise to competing theories over who ordered the assassination and why.

Defense lawyers for the Florida men said the government used unreliable evidence from Haiti, the Miami Herald reported. They argued their clients only intended to serve an arrest warrant on the president because he had overstayed his term.

The defendants also claimed that by the time the Colombians arrived to arrest him, Moïse had already been killed by his own security forces. officials in his government.

“This is a Haitian plot. it is a Haitian conspiracy,” defense attorney Emmanuel Perez said, arguing that the men were being used as scapegoats in a flawed FBI investigation, the Miami Herald reported.

A divisive figure in Haiti who declined to leave office after his term ended in February 2021, Moïse’s death added to the Caribbean country’s political instability. unleashed widespread gang violence.

Jake Johnston of the Center for Economic. Policy Research in Washington said it would be a “misconception” that the case would address all the questions surrounding the killing.

“The Miami crew is just a small sliver,” the center research associated said. “There are all these people accused in Haiti. The big picture is that we’re not going to get the full story here.”