US charges second man in assassination of Haitian president

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - The US has charged a second man accused of being involved in the assassination last year of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Thursday.

Rodolphe Jaar, a dual Haitian-Chilean citizen, is charged with “conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States and providing material support resulting in death, knowing or intending that such material support would be used to prepare for or carry out the conspiracy to kill or kidnap.”

According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Jaar admitted that he had provided guns and ammunition to the group of Colombians who carried out the murder. Several of the Colombian co-conspirators also stayed at a residence controlled by Jaar, said the DOJ.

The US also accused Jaar of being present when an unnamed co-conspirator obtained a signature from a former Haitian judge on a request for assistance to arrest and imprison Moise.

He was arrested in the Dominican Republic and agreed to travel to the US. If convicted of the charges in the complaint, Jaar faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Jaar is the second person to be charged in the US this month over the killing of Moise at his residence in Port-au-Prince.

Authorities charged a former member of the Colombian military, Mario Antonio Palacios, with “conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the US” on Jan. 4. Palacios was recently deported from Jamaica, where he fled from Haiti after the assassination.

Former Haitian Senator Jean Joel Joseph was also arrested on Jan. 16 in Jamaica.

Moise, 53, was assassinated on July 7 when a group of 20 armed commandos burst into the presidential residence and shot him.

More than 40 suspects have been arrested, including Haitian police officers and former Colombian soldiers involved in the killing.