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A Miami federal jury on Friday found Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla and James Solages guilty of conspiring to kill or kidnap Haiti’s elected leader, providing material support and violating the U.S. Neutrality Act. The convictions stem from a plot planned and financed from South Florida that ended with the July 7, 2021, attack on Moïse’s home.
abcnews.go.comA Florida jury on Friday convicted four men of conspiring to assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. The men — Joseph Vincent, German Alejandro Rivera Garcia, Arcangel Pretel Ortiz and Antonio Intriago — face up to life in prison when sentenced.
The verdict follows a trial that began in March in Miami federal court. Prosecutors presented evidence that the plot was partly planned and financed from South Florida. Ortiz and Intriago operated Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy and Counter Terrorist Unit Security, known as CTU.
Walter Veintemilla headed Worldwide Capital Lending Group. All three companies were based in South Florida. James Solages served as CTU’s representative in Haiti and coordinated with Christian Sanon, according to court evidence.
Moïse was killed on July 7, 2021, when roughly two dozen men, mostly former Colombian soldiers, entered his residence near Port-au-Prince. Martine Moïse, who was wounded in the attack, was the trial’s first witness. She testified that she woke to gunfire after midnight, turned to her husband and asked what was happening. According to her testimony, Moïse replied, “Honey, we are dead.”
At least five other people have pleaded guilty in the U.S. case and received life sentences. Christian Sanon, a Haitian-American pastor initially identified by investigators as someone the conspirators wanted to install as president, is scheduled to stand trial later.
Separately, Haitian authorities have charged about 20 people, including 17 former Colombian soldiers, in connection with the killing.
Defense lawyers told jurors that their clients believed they were participating in a lawful effort to remove Moïse, who they said had overstayed his constitutional term. The lawyers argued the U.S. investigation was flawed. Prosecutors maintained the defendants helped recruit, equip and pay the men who carried out the predawn raid.
The U.S. case does not name any Haitian political figures as having directed the assassination. No publicly released evidence in the Florida trial documented who, if anyone, gave final orders beyond the convicted men and those who have already pleaded guilty. Haitian judicial proceedings have produced no convictions more than four years after the killing.
These outlets didn't split into competing frames — coverage was uniform.
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