A plea of not guilty and a request for extradition. Nine months after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in the middle of the night, in his official residence, all eyes are now on the United States and its judicial system, which have become the last hope of an investigation undermined from the inside by the inertia and corruption of local authorities.
In early April, one of several suspects in this state-level crime, former Colombian military officer Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, pleaded not guilty in a Miami court to charges of conspiracy to murder. He was part of the group of five men, dubbed the ” Delta Team “, which burst into the room of Jovenel Moïse the night of his assassination, last July 7. The crime was planned on American territory, according to the Department of Justice.
Rodolphe Jaar, a notorious drug trafficker arrested in the Dominican Republic and then extradited to the United States, is also due to appear in US federal justice in the coming weeks. He faces the same conspiracy charges. The man is one of the key players in this murder: he would have been in contact with, among others, the former police chief Gilbert Dragon on the evening of the crime. Mr. Dragon, another suspect, died in murky conditions in November 2021 in a prison in Haiti.
The United States has also filed an extradition request to Jamaica for John Joël Joseph, a former Haitian senator described as a “co-conspirator” by the United States Department of Justice. The procedure initiated at the end of March is following its course.
the washington post also reports that in February FBI agents met with two Haitian-Americans detained in Port-au-Prince in connection with the case. In interview at Miami Herald a few days ago, the interim leader of Haiti, Ariel Henry, assured that he was ready to collaborate with the United States to bring the suspects detained in his country before American justice.
A dysfunctional justice
“We can only be delighted that the American justice system has taken up this case”, commented last week Pierre Espérance, head of the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights, joined by The duty in Port-au-Prince. “Here, the investigation and legal proceedings have been stalled at the highest peak in the state since Ariel Henry took over as interim prime minister on July 28, 2021.”
The name of Mr. Henry has been circulating for several months in the list of people who profited from the crime of Jovenel Moïse. “In this climate of impunity, it is now outside the country that hope lies,” added Mr. Espérance.
The investigation into the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse has been on hold since the withdrawal last February of Judge Chavannes Étienne, the third magistrate in a row appointed in this case; he left his post for “security reasons”. His replacement, Merlan Belabre, says for his part that he has never received the investigation file from the Superior Council of the Judiciary since his appointment on March 4, and indicated that he was also worried for his safety and that of his family, reported the Haitian Times last week.
“The judicial process is completely dysfunctional,” summarizes Montreal lawyer Philippe Larochelle, who represents the son of Jovenel Moïse, Joverlein Moïse, civil party in the ongoing investigation. “After nine months, we are forced to note the total failure of the effort carried out in Haiti to shed light on this assassination. We retreated more than we advanced in Port-au-Prince. »
Mand Larochelle says he will get in touch in the next few days with the American prosecutors in charge of the case, in the hope that American justice “offers better to unblock the situation”.
Of the 48 people arrested by the Haitian authorities since the death of the president, none has been charged to date by the Haitian courts.
A crisis that never ends
A comprehensive investigation of New York Times also highlighted the fact that Jovenel Moïse was preparing to denounce powerful politicians and entrepreneurs in the country to fight corruption and the influence of drug traffickers on the Haitian state. This would have been the reason for his death.
The president had drawn up a list of names that his assassins removed on the evening of the murder, according to his wife, Martine Moïse, who was on the scene and who survived the attack.
“We guess that the suspects imprisoned in the United States seem to collaborate with the American justice, says Mand Larochelle. Do they offer substantial understanding of the plan, motives, financing of this murder? For the moment, we can only speculate on the subject. »
Haiti remains mired in a social and political crisis that preceded the assassination of Jovenel Moïse and has persisted ever since.
Acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry indicated last week that new elections could be held by the end of the year, but was unable to present a clear plan. His legitimacy is questioned by the opposition, as well as by dozens of representatives of civil society with whom he cannot agree to put the country back on the path to democracy.
Since last March, a new US law now forces the State Department to inform Congress about the governance crisis in Haiti and the status of the ongoing investigation into the assassination of President Moïse. Several American elected officials are also calling on the White House to stop supporting the Henry government, deemed corrupt and illegitimate.