4 go on trial in killing of Haitian leader

Charges of greed, power, manipulation and guile are traded in opening statements.

- BY DAVID FISCHER

AN ARTIST paints a portrait of Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 2023.

(ODELYN JOSEPH Associated Press)

Greed, arrogance and power were the driving forces for four men charged in the U.S. for the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, prosecutors said Tuesday during opening statements.

Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys began presenting opening statements in the trial in Miami for Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla and James Solages. They are charged with conspiring in south Florida to kidnap or kill Haiti's leader.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Sean McLaughlin told the jury that the case wasn't complicated: The defendants wanted to seize power and get rich.

"So arrogant and confident in themselves, the evidence will show, and thinking so little of the Republic of Haiti and its people, they actually thought they could pull it off," McLaughlin said.

Defense attorneys argued that the investigation initiated in Haiti was a complete mess and that their clients were manipulated into taking the blame for an internal coup.

"Once you get off on the wrong foot, everything that comes after is hard to trust," Ortiz's attorney Orlando do Campo said.