Haitian-Chilean is sentenced to life imprisonment for assassination in Haiti

First modification: 06/03/2023 – 18:25

Haitian-Chilean businessman Rodolphe Jaar, who was arrested in the Dominican Republic in January 2022 and voluntarily traveled to the United States, He was sentenced to life imprisonment this Friday by a federal judge in Miami (Florida).

He was accused of conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States, as well as providing logistical support to a group of Colombian mercenaries, who shot Moïse to death.

Federal judge José E. Martínez handed down a life sentence to Jaar for each of the charges against him, according to the 11-page document to which the EFE news agency had access.

“The court will recommend that the defendant be admitted to a federal facility located in South Florida or as close as possible based on his record and crimes for which he is convicted,” says the minute of the proceedings carried out at the sentencing hearing. .

Jaar, who was an informant for the US government and had been convicted of drug trafficking a decade ago, admitted in a “voluntary” statement to having provided firearms and ammunition to Colombians allegedly involved in an operation that, according to his testimony, Its initial objective was to capture and imprison the president, not assassinate him.

According to the US Attorney’s Office, approximately 20 Colombian citizens and as many Haitians, including Jaar, participated in the plot to kidnap and kill the Haitian president.

The Haitian-Chilean is the only person who has pleaded guilty so far among the 11 who are arrested and charged in the United States for the murder of Moïse. The other 10 arrested are awaiting trial by jury.

On July 7, 2021, an armed squad entered the home of President Moïse and shot him dead. The assassination not only left a political vacuum, but also unleashed a wave of violence at the head of powerful gangs, which left areas of both the capital and the countryside lawless.

With information from Reuters and EFE.