Former DEA Informant Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Assassination of Haiti's President

EFE

A court in Miami, Florida, sentenced former informant for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Joseph Vincent, to life imprisonment for his involvement in the shooting death of Haiti's president, Jovenel Moïse, in 2021.

"Please forgive me for what I did," Vincent said before receiving the sentence, which will see him spend the rest of his life in a Florida prison.

The sentencing comes two months after Vincent, a Haitian-American national, pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy to end the life of the late president (53 years old) at the gates of his home in Port-au-Prince.

Additionally, another implicated individual in the assassination also pleaded guilty on Friday, specifically to falsifying information in the case.

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The former DEA informant, who is the fourth of the 11 accused individuals to be sentenced to life imprisonment in this case, admitted to discussing the assassination plan and accompanying his accomplices to Moïse's residence.

It is believed that during these meetings, Vincent wore a pin from the United States Department of State to make others believe he worked for Washington.

The trial is taking place in Florida because the United States Department of Justice deemed it within its jurisdiction, as part of the plot unfolded in South Florida.

According to court documents from Miami, between February and July 2021, South Florida "served as a central location to plan and finance the plot to overthrow President Moïse and replace him with someone who would serve the political objectives and financial interests of the conspirators."

Moïse was tortured and killed on the early morning of July 7, 2021, at his private residence in the Pétion-ville sector of Port-au-Prince, by a group of mercenaries, mostly Colombians.

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In the attack, his wife, First Lady Martine Moïse, was injured, and on the same day, she was transported to Miami.

The woman, who has always advocated for the creation of an international tribunal to investigate her husband's death, was recently charged with armed robbery, attempted murder, and conspiracy to harm Jovenel Moïse.

Former Haitian senator Joseph Joel John, Haitian-Chilean Rodolphe Jaar, and former Colombian military Alejandro Rivera García have also been sentenced to life imprisonment in a Miami court for their involvement in the assassination.

Since Moïse's murder, the country has been controlled by criminal groups that have caused, according to social organizations, a humanitarian crisis and thousands of forced displacements.

The United Nations declared January the most violent month in the country in over two years, with about 1,100 dead, injured, or kidnapped.