Four Suspects In The Assassination Of Haitian President Sent To The US

The U.S. Justice Department has revealed that four main suspects in the July 7, 2021 murder of Haitian President Jovenel Moise were extradited from Haiti to the U.S. on Tuesday, Jan. 31.

Seven people are now being held by the U.S. in connection with the investigation. Numerous others are still held at Haiti's main penitentiary, which is dangerously overcrowded and frequently runs out of food and water for the inmates, Al Jazeera reported.

James Solages, 37, and Joseph Vincent, 57, dual citizens of Haiti and the United States, as well as German Alejandro Rivera Garcia, 44, a citizen of Colombia, were charged on Tuesday with conspiring to murder or kidnap someone outside of the U.S.

Christian Sanon, a 54-year-old Haitian American, is the fourth man accused of transporting ballistic vests from the U.S. to Haiti for use in the assassination plan.

On Wednesday, the four will show up in federal court in Miami. Sanon, whom the US Justice Department referred to as an "aspiring political candidate," was a key leader of the assassination and has already been prosecuted alongside three other people.

Rivera Garcia and roughly 20 other Colombians with military experience were recruited by Sanon to assist in the assassination.

On the night of July 6 to 7, 2021, the Colombian team shot Moise to death in his home in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.

“On July 6, 2021, Solages, Vincent, Rivera, and others met at a house near President Moise’s residence, where firearms and equipment were distributed and Solages announced that the mission was to kill President Moise,” the department alleged.

In this case, U.S. law is being used because it is believed that American-Haitian nationals organized part of the plot to assassinate the president of Haiti in Florida, which is located on U.S. soil.

The maximum sentence for the three accused assassins is life in jail. Sanon could spend up to 20 years in prison for his involvement in supplying the operation.

In the meantime, the investigation into the murder has come to a virtual halt in Haiti. Last year, local officials nominated a fifth judge to look into the case after four others were fired or resigned for personal reasons.

A judge said his family requested him not to handle the case because they feared for his life, said reports. Following the mysterious death of one of his assistants, another judge resigned.