A Florida jury on Friday delivered guilty verdicts against four men who conspired to assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, a murder-for-hire scheme that prosecutors say was planned and financed from South Florida and resulted in the destabilization of a sovereign nation. The men — Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla and James Solages — face possible life sentences after being convicted of conspiring to kill or kidnap Haiti's elected leader and providing material support for the plot.
U.S. prosecutors demonstrated that South Florida served as a central location for planning and financing the plot to oust Moïse and replace him with someone of the conspirators' choosing. The defendants pursued their own financial enrichment through the installation of a puppet government, according to evidence presented at trial. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones said in a statement: "These defendants pursued power, influence, and profit through violence," and "They supported a conspiracy that crossed borders, destabilized a friendly nation, and ended with the murder of a sitting president. The jury has spoken, and the rule of law has answered."
The Attack and Its Aftermath
Moïse was killed on July 7, 2021, when about two dozen foreign mercenaries, mostly from Colombia, attacked his home near Port-au-Prince. The assassination has plunged Haiti deeper into chaos during the fifth year of the conflict that followed. Moïse's wife, Martine, was wounded during the attack and flown to the U.S. for treatment. She served as the first witness at trial, which began in March in Miami's federal court, and testified through a Creole interpreter that she awoke to the sounds of gunfire after midnight. She said she turned to her husband in bed next to her to ask what was going on. "Honey, we are dead," Jovenel Moïse replied, according to his wife's testimony.
The South Florida Connection
Ortiz and Intriago were principals of Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy and Counter Terrorist Unit Security, collectively known as CTU, and Veintemilla was a principal of Worldwide Capital Lending Group. Both companies were based in South Florida. Christian Sanon is a dual Haitian-American citizen whom investigators say was initially favored by the conspirators to replace Moïse. Solages was a CTU representative in Haiti who coordinated with Sanon and others, officials said. Sanon will face trial at a later date.
The men were also convicted of violating the U.S. Neutrality Act, a statute designed to prevent American territory from being used as a staging ground for attacks against governments with which the United States is at peace. Prosecutors argued that the men had their own leader in mind and had hoped to enrich themselves with a new government.
Defense Arguments Rejected
Defense attorneys argued at trial that the investigation into the assassination was a mess and that the four were manipulated into taking blame for an internal coup. They said the men believed they had a legitimate warrant signed by a Haitian judge and that they were liberating Haiti from Moïse, who had overstayed his term as president. The jury rejected these arguments.
At least five others have pleaded guilty in the conspiracy and are serving life sentences. Separately, 20 people, including 17 Colombian soldiers, face charges in Haiti. Gang violence, death threats and a crumbling judicial system have stalled an ongoing investigation.
Why This Matters:
The convictions underscore the rule of law's reach across international borders when American territory is exploited to destabilize allied governments. The assassination removed Haiti's elected leader and contributed to the collapse of governance in a nation already struggling with institutional weakness. The verdicts demonstrate that U.S. jurisdiction extends to conspiracies hatched on American soil that threaten regional stability and undermine legitimate governments. The case also highlights how criminal enterprises can exploit weak judicial systems abroad while operating from within the United States. With gang violence and judicial breakdown preventing accountability in Haiti itself, these Florida prosecutions represent the primary avenue for justice in a murder that has had cascading effects on hemispheric security and migration patterns affecting American interests.