Death of Jovenel Moïse: four convicts in the United States and growing frustration in Haiti

After nine weeks of trial, a federal court in Miami convicted four men from southern Florida of conspiring to kill Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, who was shot in his bedroom in July 2021. “This case is very simple. It’s a matter of greed, arrogance, and power,” said federal assistant prosecutor Sean McLaughlin during closing arguments.

For the Haitians, however, the case is neither simple nor resolved. Not least because “convictions for conspiracy did not determine who ordered his assassination,” as highlighted by The New York Times.

The limits of this trial were known in advance. The American justice system ruled on the plot hatched on its soil, not on the assassination itself. It shed light on crucial elements, including the fact that, for just over $300,000, these men, linked to a private security firm, were able to hire a commando of around twenty former Colombian soldiers to violently overthrow Moïse.

But while prosecutors claim their aim was to replace him with a new president who would grant them lucrative security and infrastructure contracts in Haiti, the trial did not clarify the true masterminds behind the scheme.

“Many Haitian observers have expressed their frustration after this new trial. They did not hear the names they hoped to see among the accused or the convicted,” lamented Le Nouvelliste in a column signed by its editor-in-chief Frantz Duval, who believes “it is up to Haitian justice to do its job, seek necessary international assistance, and proceed with the trial.”

Haitian Investigation Stalls

The Haitian investigation, which has indicted 50 suspects, including former first lady Martine Moïse, has yet to yield results.

A controversial figure in Haiti, Jovenel Moïse refused to step down after his presumed term ended in February 2021. He had many enemies, and numerous theories and fantasies abound regarding the true culprits behind his assassination.

The former president’s son, Joverlein Moïse, issued a statement welcoming a judicial decision that represents “a rare moment of accountability” in Haiti’s history of impunity, as international jurisdictions have shown little interest in the case and Haitian authorities have been deemed deficient, as reported by Gazette Haïti.

According to the defense attorneys, their clients only intended to serve an arrest warrant to the president, written by a Haitian lawyer who later fled. When the Colombians arrived to arrest him, Moïse was already killed by his own security agents and government officials, as reported by the Miami Herald. “It’s a Haitian plot, a Haitian conspiracy,” declared attorney Emmanuel Perez, arguing that the men were being scapegoated.

Five years after Jovenel Moïse’s assassination, this crime remains a national trauma, leading to institutional vacuum and political instability that have empowered gangs in the country and resulted in a surge of extreme violence, displacing hundreds of thousands of Haitians.

“A Tiny Part of the Issue”

“On the road to the trial for the most shocking crime committed in the country this century, all the shortcomings and failures of the Haitian justice system, as well as those of all institutions that should have prevented, thwarted, or investigated the crime after its commission, are exposed,” argued Le Nouvelliste.

The verdict on Friday, May 8, was met with a mix of satisfaction and frustration. “For dozens of Haitian-American onlookers who attended the two-month trial in downtown Miami, the outcome brought joy, even if the abundant evidence did not reveal the mastermind of this deadly plot or the assailant who shot Moïse,” summarized the Miami Herald.

For Jake Johnston from the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, it would be a “mistake to believe” that the trial would answer all questions surrounding the murder, as reported by The Guardian. “The Miami team represents only a tiny part of the issue,” cautioned the researcher, fearing that “we may never have the full truth.”