4 key suspects in Haiti presidential slaying in US custody
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Four prime suspects in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse have been transferred to the United States for prosecution as the case stalls in Haiti amid death threats that have spooked local judges, US officials said on Tuesday known.
Suspects now in US government custody include James Solages, 37, and Joseph Vincent, 57, two Haitian-Americans who were among the first to be arrested after Moïse was found dead at his private home in the near the capital Port-au-Prince was shot twelve times on July 7, 2021.
Also charged is Christian Emmanuel Sanon, an elderly pastor, doctor and failed businessman whom authorities have identified as a key figure. His associates have claimed he was duped by the real — and still unidentified — masterminds behind the assassination that plunged Haiti into deep political chaos and unleashed a level of gang violence not seen in decades .
The fourth suspect has been identified as Colombian national Germán Rivera García, 44, who is among nearly two dozen former Colombian soldiers charged in the case.
Rivera faces charges along with Solages and Vincent, among other things, conspiracy to murder or kidnap outside the United States and providing material assistance and resources resulting in death, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Sanon is accused of conspiring to smuggle goods out of the US and providing unlawful export information. Court documents say he allegedly shipped 20 ballistic vests to Haiti, but described the items shipped as “medical x-ray vests and school supplies.”
It was not immediately known if the four suspects had lawyers who could comment on the development. The men are scheduled to appear in federal court in Miami on Wednesday.
A total of seven suspects in the case are now in US custody. Dozens of others still languish in Haiti’s main prison, which is severely overcrowded and often lacks food and water for inmates.
The case has come to a virtual standstill in Haiti after local officials last year appointed a fifth judge to investigate the murder after four others fired or resigned on personal grounds.
A judge told The Associated Press his family asked him not to take the case because they feared for his life. Another judge resigned after one of his assistants died in mysterious circumstances.
Court documents state that exactly two months before Moïse’s death, Vincent texted Solages a video of a cat “reacting alertly” to the sound of gunshots, and that Solages laughed, prompting Vincent to reply, “That’s pretty much how Jovenel becomes be, but (earlier) if you really have what it takes!”
The document says Solages replied that “(that) cat will never come back” and “trust me bro, we’re definitely working on our final decision.”
Then, in June, about 20 former Colombian soldiers were recruited to allegedly help arrest the president and protect Sanon, who posed as Haiti’s new leader. Rivera was in charge of this group, the documents say.
The plan was to arrest Moïse and take him by plane to an undisclosed location, but that plan fell through when the suspects couldn’t find a plane or enough weapons, authorities said.
A day before the murder, Solages falsely told other suspects that it was a CIA operation and that, according to the documents, the mission was to kill the president. Shortly before the killing, authorities said, Solages called out that it was allegedly a DEA operation to ensure compliance with presidential security procedures.
About a year after the murder, US authorities say they interviewed Solages, Vincent and Rivera while they were in Haitian custody and agreed to an interview.
The other suspects already in US custody are Rodolphe Jaar, a former US government informant and a Haitian businessman who was extradited from the Dominican Republic, where he was arrested in January 2022.
In the same month, US authorities arrested Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, a former Colombian soldier who was deported from Jamaica after fleeing there from Haiti. On the way to Colombia, he was arrested by US officials in Panama during a stopover.
Also in January 2022, authorities arrested former Haitian Senator John Joël Joseph, who had also fled to Jamaica.
Alfredo Izaguirre, a Miami-based attorney for Palacios, said Tuesday’s arrival of the four other suspects will delay the trial as they all have to be tried at the same time. He said Palacios had been prepared for the trial to start in early March but now it could be delayed by up to four months.
Haitian police say other high-profile suspects remain at large, including a former Supreme Court justice who authorities say was preferred to take power from Moïse instead of Sanon, as originally planned. Another fugitive is Joseph Badio, suspected leader of the conspiracy, who previously worked for the Haitian Justice Ministry and the government’s anti-corruption unit until he was fired, police said.
Emmanuel Jeanty, an attorney for the president’s widow, Martine Moïse, who was injured in the attack and flown to the US for treatment, did not respond to a message for comment.
In December, Martine Moïse tweeted that her husband – who has also been accused of corruption, which he denied – fought against what led to his murder. “Despite the blockades, 17 months later, people are demanding #justice,” she wrote.
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Associated Press writer Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed to this report.
