A former U.S. government informant was sentenced to life in prison by a court in Miami on Feb. 9 over his involvement in the assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moise in 2021.
Joseph Vincent, a Haitian-American national who worked for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, is among 11 defendants accused in the Miami federal case of involvement in the slaying at Mr. Moise’s residence. He is the fourth of the defendants to be sentenced to life in prison.
Another defendant, Frederick Joseph Bergmann Jr., pleaded guilty on the same day to submitting false or misleading export information.
Mr. Vincent pleaded guilty in December to aiding the plot by offering advice about Haitian politics and arranging meetings with local community leaders.
According to a court document, Mr. Vincent allegedly donned a U.S. State Department pin during those meetings in an attempt to make people believe that he worked for the U.S. government.
He traveled to Haiti early in 2021 to back Florida-based pastor and co-defendant Christian Sanon’s bid to replace Moise, according to the filing, and on the night of the attack was a passenger in a vehicle driven by another co-defendant to the president’s home.
Moise, 53, was shot dead at his home near the capital of Port-au-Prince on July 7, 2021. His wife Martine Moise, who was also at home at the time of the attack, was left in critical condition.
The incident came amid growing political instability in Haiti and increased calls for Moise, who entered office in 2017, to resign amid accusations of corruption and his management of the economy.
Rise in Haiti’s Crime Rates
Haiti has been grappling with a severe political, humanitarian, and security crisis for years. The Caribbean country hasn’t had a president since Mr. Moise’s assassination.More than 8,400 people were killed, injured, or kidnapped in Haiti last year, a 122 percent rise from 2022, the United Nations Integrated Office (also known as BINUH) said in a report released on Feb. 2.
“Persistent gang violence in the capital and Artibonite department, and the failure of state authorities to protect the population, continued to fuel mass lynchings and murders perpetrated by ‘vigilante groups.’
“Between October and December, these groups shot, stoned, or killed with machetes at least 76 people accused of committing common crimes or supporting gangs,” the report reads.
BINUH also stated that 693 people were kidnapped from October to December 2023, an 18 percent increase compared to the previous quarter.
