The US Justice Department said on Tuesday that four major suspects in the killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021 were brought from Haiti to the United States to face criminal prosecution. Seven suspects in the case are currently in US custody. Dozens of convicts continue to languish in Haiti’s largest prison, which is grossly overcrowded and sometimes runs out of food and water. The agency announced on Tuesday that James Solages, 37, Joseph Vincent, 57, and German Alejandro Rivera Garcia, 44, had been charged with conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States.
Christian Sanon, 54, a Haitian-American, is accused of transporting ballistic vests from the United States to Haiti for use in the murder plan. Wednesday, the four will appear in federal court in Miami. The US Justice Government has previously accused three persons in the killing, with Sanon, a “aspiring political contender” according to the department, serving as the operation’s principal commander. It was said that Sanon hired around twenty Colombians with military expertise, commanded by Rivera Garcia, to assist in the killing. The Colombian team shot and killed Moise at his Port-au-Prince mansion on the night of July 6 to 7, 2021. “On July 6, 2021, Solages, Vincent, Rivera, and others gathered in a home near the residence of President Moise, where weaponry and equipment were supplied and Solages declared that the purpose was to assassinate President Moise,” according to the department.
In this case, US law is being applied since the plot to assassinate the Haitian president was reportedly organized in part on US land in Florida by American-Haitian nationals. The maximum sentence for the three assassination suspects is life in jail. Sanon faces up to 20 years in prison for his participation in the operation’s supply chain. In the meantime, the matter has reached a stalemate in Haiti, where local officials nominated a fifth judge to examine the murder after four others were removed or resigned for personal reasons. One judge told the AP that his family pleaded with him not to handle the case out of concern for his safety. A second judge resigned when one of his subordinates died under mysterious circumstances.
