Man jailed for life for role in killing of Haitian President Moïse

CMC – A 51-year-old Haitian-Chilean businessman was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for his role in the July 7, 2021 assassination of the 53-year-old Haitian President Jovenel Moïse at his private residence overlooking Port au Prince.

Federal Judge, José E Martínez , imposed the sentence on Rodolphe Jaar, for helping Colombian mercenaries get weapons to carry out the killing that also left Moïse’s wife, Martine, injured and having to undergo medical treatment in the United States.

Haitian lawmakers had said that a heavily armed commando unit that assassinated President Moïse, included 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans. The authorities had said then that 15 Colombians were captured, as well as two Haitian Americans. Three of the assailants were killed and eight remained on the run.

Jaar is the first person to be convicted and sentenced after US prosecutors said was a broad plot by the conspirators in Haiti and Florida to reap lucrative contracts under a new administration.

Jaar, who was detained in the Dominican Republic had arrived in South Florida in January 2022.  He has dual Haitian and Chilean citizenship, pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States, and to providing material support resulting in death.

Court documents showed that the conspirators initially planned to kidnap the Haitian president, and later changed the plan to kill him instead. Jaar was responsible for supplying weapons to Colombian mercenaries for the operation and the court documents said several of the former South American soldiers also stayed in a house controlled by Jaar.

During a 10-minute court hearing on Friday, the Judge Martínez handed down the sentence at the federal court in downtown Miami. Jaar received the maximum sentence he faced despite pleading guilty and pledging to cooperate with investigators in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence.

The businessman, who had entered the court room handcuffed and with shackles on his ankles, wearing a prisoner’s beige shirt and pants,  listened to the judge’s ruling with his head bowed. He declined to make statements to the judge and has the right to appeal the sentence within two weeks.

In addition to Jaar, the other defendants in Miami are: former Colombian soldiers Mario Palacios and Germán Alejandro Rivera García; former Haitian Senator John Joel Joseph; Haitian-Americans James Solages, Joseph Vincent and Christian Emmanuel Sanon; American Federick Joseph Bergmann; Colombian Arcangel Pretel Ortiz; Venezuelan-American Antonio Intriago, and the Ecuadorian-American financier Walter Veintemilla.

Judge Martínez set a hearing for August 21 to hand down a possible fine.