A federal judge in Miami sentenced a Haitian-Chilean businessman to life in prison on Friday for his part in planning Colombian mercenaries in obtaining weapons to assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Mossé in 2021. Rodolphe Jaar, 51, is the first person to be convicted and jailed in what US authorities have described as a large conspiracy involving conspirators in Haiti and Florida to gain rich contracts under a new administration once Mose was removed. In the United States, an additional ten defendants are awaiting trial.
Jaar, who has both Haitian and Chilean citizenship, was previously a US government agent and was convicted of cocaine trafficking a decade ago. He pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States, and to providing material support resulting in death. During a 10-minute hearing in federal court in downtown Miami, Federal Judge José E. Martnez handed down the punishment. Despite pleading guilty and promising to cooperate with investigators in the hopes of earning a lower sentence, Jaar received the maximum penalty he faced.
On July 7, 2021, intruders broke into Mose’s private home in Port-au-Prince and murdered him. He was 53 years old at the time. Former Colombian soldiers Mario Palacios and Germán Alejandro Rivera Garcia; former Haitian Senator John Joel Joseph; Haitian-Americans James Solages, Joseph Vincent, and Christian Emmanuel Sanon; American Federick Joseph Bergmann; Colombian Arcangel Pretel Ortiz; Venezuelan-American Antonio Intriago; and Ecuadorian-American financier Walter Veintemilla are among those charged in Miami.
Legal proceedings and potential appeals
The Haitian government has also arrested around 40 people for their alleged role in the murder, including 18 former Colombian soldiers. Judge Martnez scheduled a hearing for Aug. 21 to determine a possible fine. Jaar walked into the hearing room shackled and with ankle shackles on, wearing a prisoner’s khaki shirt and jeans. He wore a face mask and had his greying hair nicely cropped. He dropped his head as he listened to the judge’s decision.
The businessman declined to make statements to the judge and has two weeks to appeal the punishment. After the hearing, his lawyer, Frank Schwartz, told The Associated Press that Jaar has not yet decided whether to do so and declined to say further. Jaar came in South Florida in January 2022 after being detained in the Dominican Republic and has since been kept in federal custody. He freely accepted to be moved to Miami to face the charges, according to US authorities. According to charge documents, the conspirators planned to kidnap Haiti’s president before changing their minds and killing him instead.