4 suspects in killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse charged and in U.S. custody

Four of the main suspects in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse have been transferred to the United States for prosecution as the case stalled in Haiti amid death threats that terrorized a local judge, US officials announced Tuesday.

The suspects currently 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 shot 12 times at his private home near the capital Port-au-Prince on July 7, 2021.

Also charged is Christian Emmanuel Sanon, an elderly pastor, doctor and failed businessman who authorities have identified as a key player. His colleagues suggest he was duped by the real – and still unknown – mastermind behind the killings that plunged Haiti into political chaos and fueled a level of gang violence not seen in decades.

The fourth suspect was identified as Colombian national German Rivera Garcia, 44, who is among the nearly two dozen former Colombian soldiers charged in the case.

Rivera, along with Solages and Vincent, face charges including conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the US and providing material support and resources resulting in death, the US Department of Justice said.

Judges in Haiti are afraid to take the case

Sanon was charged with conspiracy to smuggle goods from the US and providing unauthorized export information. Court documents say he allegedly sent 20 ballistic vests to Haiti, but the items he sent were described as “medical X-ray vests and school supplies.”

It was not immediately known if the four suspects had lawyers available to comment on the development. The man is scheduled to appear in federal court in Miami on Wednesday.

About a year after the killings, US authorities said they interviewed Solages, Vincent and Rivera while in Haitian custody and that they agreed to talk.

A total of seven suspects in the case are currently in custody in the US. Dozens more are still languishing in Haiti’s main prison, which is overcrowded and often lacks food and water for inmates.

The case has stalled in Haiti, with local officials last year appointing a fifth judge to investigate the killings after four others were dismissed or resigned for personal reasons.

One judge told The Associated Press that the family begged not to take the case because they feared for their lives. Another judge resigned after one of his assistants was killed in shady circumstances.

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Another suspect who has been detained in the US is Rodolphe Jaar, a former US government informant and Haitian businessman who was extradited from the Dominican Republic, where he was detained in January 2022.

That same month, US authorities arrested Mario Antonio Palacios, a former Colombian soldier deported by Jamaica after fleeing Haiti. On his way to Colombia, he was detained by US officials in Panama during a layover.

Also in January 2022, authorities arrested former Haitian senator John Joel Joseph, who had also fled to Jamaica.

It is unclear when the trial will begin

Alfredo Izaguirre, a Miami-based lawyer for Palacios, said Tuesday’s arrival of the other four suspects would delay the trial because they all must be tried together. Palacios said he was ready for the trial to begin in early March, but now it could be delayed for up to four months.

Haitian police say other high-profile suspects remain at large, including a former Supreme Court judge who said authorities preferred to wrest power from Moïse rather than Sanon as planned. Another fugitive is Joseph Badio, the alleged leader of the plot who previously worked for the Haitian Ministry of Justice and the government’s anti-corruption unit until he was fired, police said.

Emmanuel Jeanty, the lawyer for the president’s widow, Martine Moïse, who was wounded in the attack and flown to the US for treatment, did not return a message for comment on Tuesday.