A US court has convicted four individuals in connection with the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise. Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla, and James Solages were found guilty on Friday of conspiracy to kill or kidnap Moise, whose murder plunged the Caribbean nation into a political vacuum that worsened overlapping security and humanitarian crises.
They were also convicted of providing material support for the plot in violation of US law. All four face possible life sentences.
US prosecutors said that south Florida, the US state closest to Haiti, served as a central hub for planning and funding Moise's assassination.
During the trial, which began nearly two months ago, the defense argued that the defendants were scapegoats. They claimed they were involved in a plan to serve Moise an arrest warrant amid a dispute over whether the president had overstayed his term.
They further maintained that Colombian mercenaries involved in the assassination were meant to accompany Haitian police to execute the warrant, but that Moise was killed by his own security forces before they arrived. "This is a Haitian plot, and it is a Haitian conspiracy," defense lawyer Emmanuel Perez said, as reported by the Miami Herald.
US prosecutors, in turn, charged that the men initially sought to remove and replace Moise, but the plan eventually escalated to assassination.
A fifth defendant, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian-born doctor who allegedly wanted to be named president after Moise was killed, is set to be tried later due to health issues. Eight other individuals accepted plea deals as part of the US investigation.
No national elections have been held in Haiti since Moise's assassination, although a provisional council was appointed in September 2024 to organize new polls. The council has since been replaced by US-backed Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, who has said elections will be held by the end of the year.
The UN has said a stable government is essential to restoring order in Haiti, which has been beset by natural disasters and rising violence, with criminal gangs controlling large swaths of territory. At least 8,100 gang killings were documented in 2025, with insecurity displacing about 1.5 million people, according to the UN.
Source: www.aljazeera.com