After the assassination of Haiti’s head of state Jovenel Moise, a US court has issued an initial confession of guilt by one of those allegedly involved in the assassination plot. Rodolphe Jaar, 50, admitted to providing “material assistance and resources” knowing they were intended for the kidnapping and murder of Moise, according to court documents yesterday in a Florida state court.
Businessman Jaar, who has both Haitian and Chilean citizenship, is the first of 11 suspects prosecutors in south Florida have charged with involvement in the assassination. After his arrest in Haiti’s neighboring Dominican Republic, 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 had harbored and armed the Colombian assassination squad.
Prosecutor: Murder for money and greed for power
According to the Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Moise’s murder was committed out of greed for money and power. The suspects include Venezuelan Antonio Intriago and Colombian Arcangel Pretel Ortiz.
The two managers of the Miami-based security company CTU are said to have planned to kidnap Moise and make the US-Haitian Christian Sanon president of the Caribbean country in his place – in return for lucrative contracts. After a failed kidnapping of Moise, Intriago and Pretel Ortiz decided, according to US prosecutors, to have the Haitian president assassinated.
