Miami, (Samajweekly) A retired Colombian army officer pleaded guilty in a US court to conspiring and supporting a plot to kill Haitian President Jovenel Moise, shot dead in his bedroom two years ago, a brazen assassination that created a destabilising power vacuum, the media reported.
According to the signed US court document, German Rivera, known as Colonel Mike, was part of the convoy which headed towards Moise’s hillside Port-au-Prince residence on July 7, 2021, days after he relayed information that the plan was not to kidnap Moise but instead to kill him, Reuters reported.
The document also says Rivera provided material support, training and personnel to support Moise’s kidnapping or murder. The case’s criminal docket details three counts for materially supporting the plot and conspiracy.
Escalating turf warfare, largely centered around the capital, has driven a humanitarian crisis leaving nearly 200,000 internally displaced, according to UN estimates, amid frequent shootings, ransom kidnappings and sexual violence.
Meanwhile, the unelected government of Prime Minister Ariel Henry has struggled as critics accuse it of corruption.
Since Moise’s death, armed gangs have greatly expanded their control across the impoverished Caribbean nation, Reuters reported.
Rivera is one of 11 defendants in the case, which includes businessmen accused of helping obtain vehicles and firearms from Florida.
Rivera’s plea follows that of Haitian-Chilean citizen Rodolphe Jaar, who in June was sentenced to life in prison after he said he had provided funds that were used to buy weapons and bribe the President’s security detail, Reuters reported.
“The battle for justice is intensifying,” Martine Moise, the late president’s widow who was wounded during the attack, wrote on social media platform X.
“It will continue as long as the people, thirsty for justice, don’t get the expected results.”
Rivera’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 27 at the US District Court in Miami.
