Businessman Jaar, who has Haitian and Chilean citizenship, is the first of 11 suspects that South Florida prosecutors have charged with involvement in the murder. After his arrest in the neighboring Dominican Republic of Haiti, he was transferred to a court in Miami in January 2022.
The 53-year-old head of state Moise was shot dead by Colombian mercenaries on July 7, 2021 in his private home in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince. His personal security did not intervene. According to Jaar’s guilty plea, he harbored and armed the Colombian assassination squad. Jaar now faces life imprisonment. Jaar said he would work with US authorities to solve the crime, hoping his sentence will be reduced.
Prosecutor’s Office: greed for money and power as a motive
According to the District Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Haitian-born Markenzy Lapointe, Moise’s murder was committed out of greed for money and power. Suspects include Venezuelan Antonio Intriago and Colombian archangel Pretel Ortiz. The two managers of the security company CTU, based in Miami, allegedly planned to kidnap Moise and appoint Haitian-American Christian Sanon president of the Caribbean country in his place.
In return, Sanon, who is now also accused in the United States, wanted to give the two lucrative contracts to build infrastructure and acquire military equipment and security personnel. After the failed kidnapping of Moise, Intriago and Pretel Ortiz decided to have the Haitian president assassinated by 20 Colombians hired by the CTU, according to US prosecutors.
Ruled by decree for over two years before assassination
Moise was in office for around five and a half years before his assassination, after his predecessor Michel Martelly resigned. However, he ruled by decree for the last two years of his presidency after the country failed to hold elections, leading to the dissolution of parliament. The opposition accused him of corruption and the establishment of a dictatorship. For example, Moise issued a decree limiting the powers of the judiciary. At the same time, he created a secret service that reports only to the president.
Moise himself has always denied the allegations and has pushed for constitutional reform, which he said he wanted to use to ensure more political stability. In four years, he changed the head of government seven times. Under his presidency, the economic and social problems of the country of eleven million inhabitants worsened.
hunger warning
His assassination, now nearly two years ago, has further fueled political instability. Just a month after the attack on the president, the Caribbean country was also hit by a powerful earthquake that claimed hundreds of lives. The country is still grappling with the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew, which left a trail of devastation in 2016.
Just on Friday, the United Nations warned that Haiti’s famine crisis had reached a tipping point after years of political instability, gang violence and economic troubles. According to the UN’s World Food Program (WFP), the number of people who don’t have enough to eat has tripled since 2016. Around half the population often doesn’t know how to get their next meal.
1.8 million of them are at risk of starvation, WFP Haiti director Jean-Martin Bauer said in a video call to media representatives in Geneva. WFP urgently needs 125 million US dollars (about 116 million euros) to be able to support the most vulnerable over the next six months. The work of aid organizations is also hampered by rampant gang crime, according to the WFP director.
The international community must not forget that the humanitarian situation must be taken into account in the search for a political solution. “Haitians cannot participate in a democratic process if they are hungry,” said Bauer. Lack of food supply is one of the main reasons for gang crime. Broad humanitarian aid is the key to a political solution.