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A retired Colombian soldier charged in the 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse pleaded guilty on Thursday in Miami, as authorities continue to pursue individuals linked to a murder that has deepened a spiralling crisis in the Caribbean country.
Germán Rivera, 45, admitted partaking in “a conspiracy to kill and kidnap a person outside of the United States” that resulted in Moïse’s death, according to the plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors.
Prosecutors said in a statement filed in court Thursday that Rivera met with co-conspirators in person in Haiti and virtually in south Florida, where they discussed “methods for carrying out the operation and the need to acquire weapons to facilitate the operation”.
Moïse was gunned down in a bedroom of his home in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, the capital, on July 7 2021, and his wife was wounded. Investigators have yet to establish a motive.
On the night of the assassination, “Rivera and his conspirators set out in a convoy towards the president’s residence,” prosecutors said, adding that the co-conspirators entered the presidential residence “with the intent and purpose” of killing Moïse — “and in fact, the president was killed.”
“Rivera provided training, advice, and assistance, including with respect to operational planning to facilitate the operation” that killed Moïse, prosecutors said in court filings.
Eighteen Colombians have been jailed in Haiti over the assassination, while a number of Haitians — including members of Moïse’s security detail — have also been captured, though investigations inside Haiti have advanced at a faltering pace compared to those led by the FBI in the US.
Rivera, wearing beige overalls and glasses in court on Thursday, pleaded guilty to three counts relating to Moïse’s murder, each of which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. A fourth charge of conspiring against the US was dropped as part of the co-operation agreement.
The plea deal is a breakthrough for prosecutors investigating a murder that two years later remains shrouded in mystery as Rivera may become a valuable witness against any other defendants who go to trial. Eleven defendants from Florida, Haiti, and Colombia have been charged so far in the FBI-led investigation.
Rivera is the second defendant to plead guilty, after Rodolphe Jaar, a Haitian-Chilean with a conviction for dealing drugs. In June, Jaar was sentenced to life imprisonment for providing weapons and support to his co-conspirators.
Rivera’s sentencing hearing has been set for October 27 in Miami. Mark LeVine, a lawyer representing Rivera, was not immediately reachable for comment.
Without any elected officials left in place, Haiti is mired in deepening political, security, and economic crises as acting prime minister Ariel Henry struggles to contain violent gangs that terrorise the Caribbean nation.
As many as 200 gangs have thrived in the vacuum left by Moïse’s murder, kidnapping rich and poor alike for ransom while often holding up fuel supplies at the country’s main port.
The gang activity has limited aid responses, according to several NGOs, in a country where the UN estimates that 4.9mn people — around half of the population — are hungry.
Since last week, thousands of Haitians have taken shelter in schools and a theatre in the historic centre of Port-au-Prince amid a surge in gang warfare. Over 10,000 people have been displaced since mid-August, according to the UN.
“The humanitarian situation has considerably deteriorated in Haiti in 2023,” the UN’s Integrated Office in Haiti said in a statement last week.
Henry — alongside the US, UN, and some Caribbean nations — has called for an international force to tackle the security crisis, though many countries are wary of leading such an operation in Haiti, where previous interventions have gone badly.
A delegation from Kenya met last month with Haitian officials as the African nation weighs leading a multinational force, though such an operation has not yet materialised.
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