Death of Jovenel Moïse: Four sentenced in the United States and growing frustration in Haiti

After nine weeks of trial, a federal court in Miami found four men from southern Florida guilty of conspiring to kill Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, who was shot in his bedroom in July 2021. “This case is very simple. It’s a matter of greed, arrogance, and power,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean McLaughlin in his closing arguments.

For Haitians, however, the situation is neither simple nor resolved. Particularly because “convictions for conspiracy did not determine who ordered his assassination,” as highlighted by The New York Times.

The limitations of this trial were known in advance. American justice ruled on the plot hatched on its soil, not on the assassination itself. It shed light on important elements, such as the fact that for just over $300,000, these men, linked to a private security firm, were able to hire a group of around twenty former Colombian soldiers to violently overthrow Moïse.

Although prosecutors claim their goal was to replace him with a new president to grant them lucrative security and infrastructure contracts in Haiti, the trial did not dispel doubts about the real masterminds.

“Many Haitian observers expressed their frustration after this new trial. They did not hear the names they hoped to see among the accused or the convicted,” as regretted by Le Nouvelliste in an editorial signed by its editor-in-chief Frantz Duval.

Context: Trial and conviction of men involved in the conspiracy to kill Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

Fact Check: The trial focused on the conspiracy but did not identify the actual masterminds behind the assassination.

The Haitian investigation, with 50 suspects charged including former first lady Martine Moïse, has yet to yield results.

A controversial figure in Haiti, Jovenel Moïse refused to step down after the presumed end of his term in February 2021. He had many enemies, and various theories and fantasies abound regarding the true culprits of his assassination.

Joverlein Moïse, former president’s son, praised a judicial decision as “a rare moment of accountability” amidst Haitian crisis while international courts have shown little interest in the case.

According to defense attorneys, their clients intended to serve an arrest warrant to Moïse, while the Colombians who arrived to arrest him found Moïse already killed by his own security agents and government officials.

Five years after Jovenel Moïse’s assassination, the crime remains a national trauma leading to institutional vacuum, political instability, increased gang influence, and widespread violence displacing hundreds of thousands of Haitians.

Context: Continued investigations and various theories surrounding the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

Fact Check: Ongoing doubts and conspiracies regarding the true instigators of the assassination.

“An infinitesimal part of the problem”

As highlighted by Le Nouvelliste, the trial represents the shortcomings of both Haitian justice and institutions in preventing and investigating the heinous crime.

The verdict, greeted with a mix of satisfaction and frustration, left many Haitian-Americans witnessing the trial in Miami feeling joy despite the lack of definitive proof regarding the mastermind of the deadly plot. Similarly, Jake Johnston from the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington believes that the Miami team represents only a small part of the larger issue and questions if we will ever know the whole truth.

Context: Discussion on the limitations of the trial and the complexity of uncovering the truth behind Moïse’s assassination.

Fact Check: Critics question if the trial provided all the answers surrounding the murder.