US detains 4 suspects in South Florida in assassination of Haitian president
MIAMI (AP) -- U.S. authorities have arrested four more people in the slaying of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, including the owner of a Doral security company that hired ex-Colombian soldiers for the mission, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Antonio "Tony" Intriago, owner of CTU Security, is charged with conspiracy to kill or kidnap a person outside the U.S. among other charges, along with company representative Arcangel Pretel Ortiz.
Florida-based U.S. financier Walter Veintemilla is accused of funding the operation. A fourth suspect, Frederick Joseph Bergmann Jr., is accused of smuggling goods.
"It is extremely important to bring (them) to justice," said Markenzy Lapointe, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. "We will deliver justice in the courtroom."
"We think we have reached critical mass in terms of the people responsible for this in terms of the organizers and the planners of this," LaPointe told CBS4's Peter D'Oench. "It is extremely important to bring those people to justice. It is not enough to just arrest those on the ground in Haiti. While the murder of President Moise occurred in Port-aU-Prince, much of the planning for this plot occurred right here in the U.S. District in Florida.
"It appears money and power with the emphasis on money fueled the plot to overthrow Jovenel Moise," LaPointe said. "As a human being we are impacted by events in a very profound way."
Federal prosecutors said it is an open investigation and more charges are possible in the future.
There were strong words as well from Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general for national security with the Department of Justice.
"This was a human tragedy and an assault on the human core of values," he said. "The impact on Haiti and the people there continues to be felt today. The United States will not tolerate those who would plot from our soil and carry our acts of violence abroad just as we would not tolerate those outside this country who commit acts of violence in this country.
"A central tenant of every democracy is that those who want to change the government must do so peacefully through ballots not bullets," he said. "The defendants thought there would be Haitian immunity for the crimes but now we will deliver justice in the U.S. through the courtroom. To those who use violence to upend democracy where motivated by greed or political ambitions, today's charges should send a message, a very clear message that we will not tolerate this and we will bring the full measure of law to hold you accountable wherever you may be."
A squad of former Colombian soldiers hired by CTU are among suspects who carried out the July 2021 attack, which authorities say originally was envisioned to be a coup rather than an assassination. The motives and ultimate masterminds of the attack remain unclear.
Tama Kudman, Veintemilla's attorney, told The Associated Press that he would plead not guilty to both charges.
Claude Joseph, who was serving as prime minister when Moïse was killed, cheered the announcement. "Justice must prevail," he tweeted, along with a picture of a U.S. government news release on Tuesday's announcement.
Earlier this month, the president's widow, Martine Moïse, who was shot during the attack but survived, called for the creation of a special U.N. tribunal to investigate the assassination, saying the case has faced obstacles for 19 months.
"The killers are out there," she said.
A total of 11 suspects are now in U.S. custody, including key players like James Solages and Joseph Vincent, two Haitian-Americans who were among the first arrested after Moïse was shot 12 times at his private home in July 2021. Other suspects include Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a pastor and failed businessman whose associates have suggested he was duped by the real masterminds who have yet to be arrested.
Authorities have said that the original plan was to detain Moïse, force him onto a plane and whisk him to an unidentified location, but that plot crumbled when suspects couldn't find a plane or sufficient weapons, according to court documents.
Sanon, who envisioned himself as Haiti's new leader, was supposed to seize power, but the other suspects soon favored a former Haitian Supreme Court judge to take over instead. Police say the judge remains a fugitive.
A day before the killing, Solages falsely told other suspects that it was a CIA operation and that the real mission was to kill the president. Shortly before Moïse was killed, Solages yelled that it was supposedly a DEA operation so that the president's security detail would comply.
Also detained are former Haitian Sen. John Joël Joseph, who had fled to Jamaica, and former U.S. government informant and Haitian businessman Rodolphe Jaar, who was extradited from the Dominican Republic.
As the U.S. investigation into the July 2021 assassination of Moïse pushes forward, the probe in Haiti is nearly idle. Three judges have stepped down from the case amid fears they will be killed and a fourth one was dismissed. Meanwhile, no court hearings have been held yet for the more than 40 suspects arrested in Haiti, with many of them including 18 Colombian soldiers languishing in a severely overcrowded jail in Port-au-Prince that often lacks food and water.