The U.S. charged four people over the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse at his Port-au-Prince home.
Police allege that Moïse was killed by a group of mostly Colombian mercenaries who were hired by Christian Emmanuel Sanon, who sought to become Haiti's president.
- Three suspects were charged with conspiracy to murder: dual Haitian American citizens James Solages and Joseph Vincent, as well as Colombian citizen Germán Alejandro Rivera García.
- Sanon, who the Justice Department described as "an aspiring Haitian political candidate," was charged with smuggling.
- Haitian police said the mercenaries, who believed they were working on a security detail, were hired through a Miami-based company run by a Venezuelan national.
- The Justice Department has also charged a former Haitian senator, who allegedly supplied weapons and set up meetings, in relation to the murder.
Zoom Out:
- Haiti, which has long been one of the poorest and least stable nations in the Caribbean, has been wracked by political instability and gang violence since Moïse's assassination.
- U.N. humanitarian chief Ulrika Richardson said in December that gangs control nearly 60% of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital city.
