#year #assassination #Haitian #President #investigation #stalled
A year after Haitian President Jovenel Moise was shot dead at his home in Port-au-Prince, no suspected mastermind or motive has been identified as investigations stalled amid a crumbling political environment.
Moise was murdered in the early hours of July 7, 2021, when a squad entered the President’s private home and shot him 12 times, killing him.
On the same day, Haitian police mobilized exceptionally quickly to arrest around 20 people, including 18 former Colombian soldiers believed to be hired as mercenaries.
But that initial speed has since been followed by a gradual legal process in Haiti and the United States.
The indolence has only worsened in recent weeks as prosecutors’ offices in the Haitian capital were raided last month by one of the many gangs plaguing the country, whole sections of which are controlled by the often violent criminal gangs.
The delays in the investigation have also further complicated Haiti’s ongoing political crisis.
The Caribbean island nation’s presidency has been vacant since Moise’s death, and no date has been set for a vote to fill the post.
No fewer than five consecutive judges have dealt with the case, but none of them have brought charges against the 40 people currently detained in connection with it.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was appointed to his post just two days before Moise’s death, is suspected of speaking to one of the prime suspects by phone hours after the attack – a line of investigation he describes as a “diversion”.
Parliament has not functioned properly for two years as Moise had not organized an election since taking office in 2017. And without a head of state to appoint judges, the country’s judicial system has also faltered.
– Suspects charged in US –
With confidence in their own government all but eroding, many Haitians have instead put their hopes in the hands of the American justice system.
Three suspects have been charged in Miami, Florida, where Haitian police also say the conspiracy originated. These suspects are: Colombian Mario Palacios, who is believed to be one of the five gunmen who ultimately gained access to the room where Moise was killed, Colombian-Haitian national Rodolphe Jaar and former Haitian Senator John Joel Joseph.
A fourth man was arrested at an Istanbul airport in November, despite Turkish courts only this week denying Haiti’s extradition requests for him.
Despite progress in the case in the United States, in April a judge decided to seal the evidence, citing the previous involvement of two of the suspects as informants for the US Drug Enforcement Agency and the FBI.
A Haitian legal source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, lamented the US move, telling AFP: “An entire chunk of this story will remain unknown.”
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