2023-09-08 08:15:38
The trial of those responsible for the death of the Haitian president, Jovenel Möise, continues its process and this Friday it was learned that the retired captain, Germán Rivera, assumed his responsibility in the assassination by pleading guilty to helping plan and carry out the assassination. assassination of Moïse at his residence in July 2021.
Rivera, also known as Colonel Mike, pleaded guilty at a hearing Thursday to three charges that might land him in a U.S. prison for the rest of his life, according to documents filed in federal court in Florida.
On July 7, 2021, an armed commando of regarding 20 Colombians shot and killed the 53-year-old Haitian president in his private residence in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, without his bodyguards intervening.
Two suspects in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise are shown to the press at the General Directorate of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Thursday, July 8, 2021. Moise was killed in an attack on his private home. residence early Wednesday. Photo: AP / Joseph Odelyn. | Photo: 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Last Wednesday, a New York Times article revealed that Rivera would plead guilty as a sign that he might testify once morest his co-defendants. The spokesperson for the federal prosecutor’s office in the southern district of Florida, Sarah Schall, confirmed this decision by the Colombian in a note sent to the American newspaper: “I am writing to inform you that Mr. Germán Rivera has decided to plead guilty.”
The murder plan was made in Florida
Rivera, along with others, was charged under US law, as part of the murder plot was organized in Florida.
The Colombian participated in the plan to assassinate President Möise on July 7, 2021, in which the former Colombian military man Duberney Capador was also involved, with whom he developed the strategy to assault the house at night with the entry of several mercenaries. Colombians and put an end to the president’s life, where his wife was injured.
In February, prosecutor Markenzy Lapointe declared in a new conference that underlying the attack once morest Moïse was a desire for money and power.
Lapointe claimed that two executives from a Miami security company, CTU, devised a plan to kidnap Moïse and replace him with Christian Sanon, a Haitian-American citizen who wanted to become president of the Caribbean country.
Painful story: This is how Colombian mercenaries shot the first lady of Haiti | Photo: Collage Semana, with image from the Twitter account @martinemoise and AP
In exchange for overthrowing Moïse, they were promised lucrative contracts to build infrastructure and provide security forces and military equipment in a future government led by Sanon, also indicted in the United States, according to prosecutors.
The initial goal of the conspiracy was to kidnap Moïse, but it later evolved into murder, according to court documents.
Another culprit and Colombian mercenaries imprisoned in Haiti
In June, another member of the conspiracy, Haitian-Chilean Rodolphe Jaar, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison for his role in supplying weapons to carry out the murder.
The United States justice system, which has been carrying out investigations into the assassination that at the time collapsed Haiti, and for the first time involved Colombians in this event, maintains that Rivera recruited 20 national mercenaries, in May 2021, to whom he handed over weapons and assault equipment to end the lives of Moïse and his wife, indicating that it was an operation backed by the CIA and that all participants would be immune from being prosecuted for the assassination.
Although some accuse them of being mercenaries hired to attack the life of the Haitian president, they assure that they were hired by an American company called CTU to provide surveillance and security services to former candidate Emmanuel Sanon, an opponent of the assassinated Jovenel Moïse. That is, as they say, they were deceived.
Rivera recruited 20 national mercenaries, in May 2021, to whom he gave weapons and assault equipment to end the lives of Moïse and his wife, | Photo: Haiti Police
The former director of the Police, General Germán Vargas, indicated that a Colombian identified as Ángel Pretelt would have coordinated the assassination with the Venezuelan Antonio Intriago.
A wave of violence hits Haiti following the death of Möise
Haiti has been plunged into chaos since the assassination of Moïse.
Gangs control regarding 80% of the Haitian capital, and violent crimes such as kidnappings for ransom, armed robberies and carjackings continue to rise in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Last week, the United Nations’ top humanitarian official, Martin Griffiths, denounced the “extreme brutality” of gang-related violence in Haiti.
People crowd a corner as police patrol the streets following gang members tried to attack a police station, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on April 25, 2023. | Photo: WEEK
“Alarming reports from Haiti, where increased violence has left more than 70 dead and injured in Port-au-Prince over the past two weeks,” Griffiths said in a message on his account on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter. .
“So far this year, more than 2,500 people have died and nearly a thousand have been injured. This carnage has to stop,” he stressed, following the UN humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, Philippe Branchat, recently warned of “a new escalation of extremely brutal violence.”
1694172814
#Guilty #retired #captain #Germán #Rivera #declared #guilty #murder #Jovenel #Möise #Haiti #spend #rest #life #prison
