Four further suspects have been arrested in connection with the plot to assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Moise in 2021.
Authorities claim that one of the suspects is the proprietor of a Florida-based security firm that hired Colombian ex-soldiers for the mission.
President Moise was purportedly shot and killed at his house in Port-au-Prince by foreign mercenaries who spoke Spanish.
Currently, eleven suspects are in US custody
According to the Justice Department (DOJ), Venezuelan-American Antonio “Tony” Intriago, the owner of CTU Security in Florida, recruited a team of former Colombian soldiers for the operation.
He is now facing numerous counts, including conspiracy to kill or abduct a person outside the United States.
Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, a Colombian citizen and representative of the CTU, has also been arrested.
A third defendant, Florida-based businessman Walter Veintemilla, is accused of funding the assassination plan against Mr. Moise. His lawyer informed the Associated Press that he intends to enter a not-guilty plea.
As part of the scheme, the fourth defendant, Frederick Joseph Bergmann Jr., is suspected of smuggling ballistic vests.
“It is crucial to bring (them) to justice,” said Markenzy Lapointe, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. “We shall administer justice in court.”
US police had already announced the arrest of seven men for their alleged involvement in the plot, including James Solages, Joseph Vincent, and Christian Emmanual Sanon, who are dual citizens of Haiti and the United States.
According to the Haitian police, Mr. Sanon had “political ambitions” to succeed President Moise.
The Department of Justice thinks that Mr. Solages, Mr. Vincent, and Colombian national Germán Alejandro Rivera intended to abduct the Haitian president and fly him out of the country so that a new leader could be established. According to reports, the idea was abandoned because they lacked an airplane.
US prosecutors stated in a January statement that the three individuals and others met at a residence in Haiti before the assassination, “where firearms and equipment were given and Solages declared the mission to kill President Moise.”
Haiti’s inquiry into the assassination has mostly halted due to the resignation of three judges over security concerns. Four were dismissed.
More than forty suspects, including eighteen Colombians, remain in detention in Haiti. Immediately after President Moise’s death, three others were killed.
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