Florida Jury Convicts Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla, James Solages

A Florida jury on Friday convicted four men of conspiracy tied to the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, with the trial centered on South Florida as a planning and financing hub for the plot to oust Moïse and replace him with someone of the conspirators’ choosing.

“Four people have been convicted in the United States in connection with the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise”

Al Jazeera

U.S. prosecutors said Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla and James Solages were found guilty of conspiring to kill or kidnap Haiti’s elected leader and providing material support for the plot, and they were also convicted of violating the U.S. Neutrality Act.

Al Jazeera

Moïse was killed on July 7, 2021, when about two dozen foreign mercenaries, mostly from Colombia, attacked his home near Port-au-Prince, and his wife, Martine, was wounded during the attack and flown to the U.S. for treatment.

In Miami’s federal court, Martine Moïse was the first witness at trial, describing through a Creole interpreter how she awoke to gunfire after midnight and saying, “Honey, we are dead,” according to his wife’s testimony.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones said in a statement, “These defendants pursued power, influence, and profit through violence,” as the jury returned guilty verdicts.

Defense attorneys argued that the investigation into the assassination was a mess and that the four were manipulated into taking blame for an internal coup, saying the men believed they had a legitimate warrant signed by a Haitian judge and that they were liberating Haiti from Moïse.

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

Associated Press

The Guardian also described prosecutors arguing during the nine-week trial in a Miami federal court that the men assembled two dozen former Colombian soldiers and supplied them with money, guns, ammunition and tactical vests.

The Department of Justice press release said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg stated, “Using U.S. soil as a staging ground for a violent plot overseas is a grave violation of our laws,” framing the conspiracy as orchestrated within U.S. borders.

The Guardian added that all four men face life in prison, while a fifth defendant, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, was set to be tried later due to health issues.

The Department of Justice said the four defendants embarked on a scheme in early 2021 to violently overthrow President Moïse and install their handpicked successor so the defendants could obtain lucrative government contracts in Haiti, and it said the conspiracy recruited allies in the U.S., Colombia, and Haiti.

“against four men accused of conspiring to kill Haitian President Jovenel Moïse found them guilty on Friday”

CBS News

According to court records described by The Guardian, prosecutors argued the men were convicted of multiple counts of conspiracy to kill and kidnap a person outside the US resulting in death and of providing material support or resources to carry out a violation resulting in death, and the verdicts left uncertainty about who ordered the assassination.

The Miami Herald reported that the verdict came nearly five years after the assassination, following 39 days of testimony over almost nine weeks, and it said the jury spent just over two days deliberating after sending a question to the judge about one of the nine charges related to the shipment of bulletproof vests to mercenaries in Haiti.

The Department of Justice press release said the FBI is going to leverage everything at its disposal to go after conspirators of assassinations, with Assistant Director Heith Janke saying, “The FBI is going to leverage everything at its disposal to go after conspirators of assassinations.”

In Haiti, NBC 6 South Florida reported that gang violence, death threats and a crumbling judicial system have stalled an ongoing investigation, and it said sentencing is scheduled for July 28 while all four defendants face possible life sentences.