Former DEA informant pleads guilty to role in 2021 assassination of Haitian president

A former informant to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration pleaded guilty Tuesday to his role in the assassination plot of former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.

Joseph Vincent’s plea makes him the fourth out of 11 defendants in Miami to plead guilty to the slaying of Moïse, 53, at his home in Port-au-Prince, which sparked further instability on the Caribbean island. The number of killings, rapes and kidnappings increased in the poverty-stricken country in the wake of the assassination.

Vincent faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for charges including conspiracy to kill and kidnap a person outside of the United States and conspiracy to provide material support and resources, according to his plea agreement.

In a separate court filing signed by Vincent, he confirmed he provided material support and services used to prepare and carry out the kidnapping and assassination of Moïse from February 2021 through July 7, 2021 — the date of Moïse’s death.

The filing states Vincent gave advice to co-conspirators about the political landscape in Haiti and attended meetings in Miami with key Haitian political and community figures while often wearing a U.S. State Department pin, which prosecutors said led others to believe he was employed by the department.

In the months leading up to the assassination, Vincent confirmed in filings he also met with co-conspirators in Haiti, some of whom included Colombian mercenaries and Haitian-Americans. Vincent was a passenger in the car driven by co-conspirator James Solages to Moïse’s residence where he was killed.

Vincent and Solages, both Haitian Americans, were among the first arrested after the killing.

Vincent maintained his innocence after the killing, telling a Haitian judge he was a translator for the Columbian soldiers accused of killing Moïse, The Associated Press reported.

Wearing a prisoner’s beige shirt and pants, he pleaded guilty on Tuesday before Judge José E. Martínez in a hearing that lasted 20 minutes, according to the AP.

In his plea, Vincent agreed to collaborate with the investigation in exchange for the government withdrawing two accusations of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States. He is slated to be sentenced on Feb. 9.

Other defendants who have pleaded guilty include Haitian Chilean businessman Rodolphe Jaar, who was sentenced to life in prison in June; retired Colombian army officer Germán Alejandro Rivera Garcia, who was also sentenced to life in prison in October; and Haitian senator John Joël Joseph, who was extradited from Jamaica last year and is expected to be sentenced in Miami on Dec. 19, per the AP.

More than 40 suspects have been arrested in the case in Haiti, including 18 former Colombian soldiers and multiple high-ranking Haitian police officers, the news wire added.

Five judges were appointed to the case, though four have stepped down, with some citing the fear of being killed.

Nick Robertson contributed.