United States law enforcement authorities Tuesday arrested and charged Walter Veintemilla in connection with the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse at his private residence overlooking the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Veintemilla, who has been described as a US financier living in Florida, was charged with conspiracy to kill or kidnap a person outside the US among other charges.
His attorney Tama Kudman said his client would plead not guilty to both charges.
The authorities said a Miami-based security company that hired the mercenaries for the mission had turned to Veintemilla for funding.
In addition to Walter Veintemilla, the US law enforcement authorities have also arrested Antonio “Tony” Intriago, owner of Doral-based Counter Terrorist Unit Security (CTU) and Arcángel Pretel Ortiz, operator of the affiliate CTU Federal Academy LLC. They are charged with supporting a conspiracy to kidnap or kill Moïse.
The fourth defendant, Frederick Bergmann, is charged with conspiring to smuggle ballistic vests for former Colombian soldiers who allegedly carried out the fatal shooting of Moïse and seriously wounded wife, Martine.
He’s also charged with failing to file valid export paperwork when 20 smuggled bulletproof vests were shipped on June 10, 2021, from Miami to Port-au-Prince before the assassination
According to FBI criminal complaints, Intriago, Ortiz and Veintemilla played distinct roles in an initial plan aiming to arrest and kidnap Moïse after he returned from a state visit to Turkey in June 2021, and then in a final plot to kill him weeks later on July 7 inside his hillside home in the suburbs of metropolitan Port-au-Prince.
A total of eight suspects are now in US custody, including James Solages and Joseph Vincent, two Haitian-Americans who were among the first arrested after Moïse was shot 12 times at his private home.
Other suspects include Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a pastor and failed businessman whose associates have suggested he was duped by the real masterminds who have yet to be arrested. Also detained are former Haitian Senator John Joël Joseph, who had fled to Jamaica, and former US government informant and Haitian businessman Rodolphe Jaar, who was extradited from the Dominican Republic.
Several former Colombians soldiers have been detained in Haiti in connection with the assassination.
CMC/
