Political opponents of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse were involved in discussions with several gang leaders to solicit their support in the assassination of the president at his residence on July 7, 2021, according to documents presented in a federal gun smuggling case, the Miami Herald reported in a story published Sunday, July 7, 2024.
“The political rivals met with several gang leaders and asked for their support before the president was assassinated at his suburban home in the hills above Port-au-Prince, according to a document filed in an unrelated federal gun-smuggling case,” the Miami Herald article read.
The documents reveal for the first time that Moïse’s political rivals met with a small group of gang leaders to enlist their help in planning a deadly attack on the Haitian president three years ago.
According to the Miami Herald, one of the rivals believed to be present was a former senator who aspired to become the country’s next prime minister but would later admit to contacting gang members as part of his guilty plea in Miami federal court for conspiring to kill Moïse.
The newspaper also said that one of the gang leaders who was present at the meeting would later become one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives and receive a $2 million reward for information leading to his arrest in the kidnapping of 17 missionaries, all but one of them U.S. citizens, according to court documents.
The Florida newspaper reports that a confidential witness mentioned in a 47-page sentencing report filed by prosecutors in the arms smuggling case against Germine Joly, aka “Yonyon,” the alleged leader of the 400 Mawozo gang in Haiti, operating in particular in Croix-des-Bouquets, that gang members were aware of the coup plan.
Prosecutors did not reveal the identity of the witness, saying only that he was familiar with Joly, 31, and identified Joly and other gang members as participants in the pre-assassination meeting, which was confirmed by photos.
The names of Moïse’s rivals are not disclosed. The exact date of the meeting is not specified, although it is associated with the period surrounding the assassination. “The political rivals informed the gang members of the plan to assassinate President Moïse and asked for their support and silence,” according to the confidential witness, who reported details of the meeting to the FBI. “Promises were made to the gangs to gain their support. These promises were not kept,” the Mimani Herald reported.
According to the report cited by the Miami Herald, Germine Joly was chosen as the gang’s representative at the meeting and participated by phone from a prison, where he not only controlled the gang’s hostage-taking operations, but also directed weapons purchases and deadly attacks.
Extradited to the United States in May 2022 in connection with the kidnapping of 16 American missionaries on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Germine Joly was recently sentenced to 35 years in prison for his role in purchasing and trafficking firearms from Florida to Haiti, thereby supporting his gang’s criminal activities.
The FBI witness, according to the Miami Herald, said he heard Joly say he intended to keep the missionaries captive “because the politicians didn’t keep their promise to the gang leaders.” Prosecutors say Joly agreed with Vitel’homme Innocent, another gang leader, to commit kidnappings, including the missionaries, and split the profits.
