Dislodging a foreign leader: Here are South Florida people, firms with links to the case

Investigators in at least three countries, including the United States, are sorting through a who’s who of players, trying to determine how and why the July 7, 2021, assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, 53, was carried out.

Here are the players from South Florida with alleged links to what ultimately occurred. Some have been charged with crimes, others not. Also listed, a key player in Haiti, where the plot was reconfigured from deposing the president to killing him. Although they wanted Moïse ousted, there is no evidence at present that South Floridians planned an assassination.

▪ Christian Emmanuel Sanon

A Haitian-American pastor/physician who split time between Haiti and South Florida and once filed for bankruptcy in the United States, Sanon wanted to be president. He met with various plotters to discuss a strategy to both depose and succeed Haitian President Jovenel Moïse — but not kill him, according to several individuals. Former Colombian soldiers connected to the actual killing were initially hired to protect him. Sanon is jailed in Haiti and denies wanting to replace or kill Moïse.

▪ James Solages

Currently jailed in Haiti, the Haitian American ran a small charity benefiting his native Jacmel. He quit his job at a senior living center in Lantana, Florida, and went to work for a Miami-Dade security company. In the plan to oust Moïse, Solages said his role was as a translator but admitted to the Herald that he was the person yelling “DEA operation” through a bullhorn outside Moïse’s house, part of the pretense that the attack was a U.S government-authorized raid. Solages is identified in FBI affidavits as “co-conspirator #1” and, according to Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, a Colombian charged in Florida in the case, was one of the leaders of the operation to remove Moïse from office. A late June 2021 visit by Solages to South Florida is key in the U.S. investigation.

▪ Joseph Vincent

Once a Drug Enforcement Administration confidential informant, Vincent, a Haitian American, claimed to be a translator for the former Colombian soldiers accused of killing Moïse. Now jailed in Haiti, he was in touch with several key suspects leading up to the assassination and later turned himself in to police with Solages. Although Vincent phoned his old DEA handler after the killing, U.S. officials say he wasn’t still connected to the agency.

▪ Counter Terrorist Unit Security

Doral-based firm hired Solages and then, later, Colombian soldiers, the latter purportedly to protect Sanon.

▪ Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy

Another Doral-based firm, it’s associated with the similarly named Counter Terrorist Unit Security, which has also been linked to the plot. By tapping into a closed WhatsApp group, Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy was able to recruit former Colombian solders to go to Haiti to provide protection for Sanon. Some of those ex-soldiers allegedly carried out the killing.

▪ Antonio ‘Tony’ Intriago

A Venezuelan, Intriago owns Counter Terrorist Unit Security. The Florida-based company was allegedly responsible for paying more than 20 former Colombian soldiers linked to the assassination. He has not been charged. Intriago’s lawyer says his client’s “unarmed security contractors” had been hired as bodyguards in Haiti, where they later “found the president deceased, his wife wounded and their house ransacked” when they went to serve an arrest warrant on President Moïse.

▪ Arcángel Pretel Ortiz

The Colombian national is a business associate of Intriago. Pretel ran Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy. He participated in meetings before the killing. Also known as “Gabriel Perez,” Pretel was still working as an FBI informant at the time of his alleged involvement, according to two sources. But there is no indication the agency was behind his efforts. He once testified in a Colombian cartel case on behalf of the FBI. Although he’s believed to be in Florida, his precise whereabouts are unknown.

▪ Walter Veintemilla

The Weston financier heads Worldwide Capital Lending Group in Miramar. He brokered a $172,000 loan to Counter Terrorist Unit Security on behalf of Sanon to pay for the would-be president’s security as Sanon sought what Veintemilla’s lawyer described as “a peaceful transition of power in Haiti.” Veintemilla has not been arrested and denies any involvement or knowledge of an assassination plot.

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▪ Joseph Félix Badio

Described by Haitian police as a key fugitive and presumed mastermind, Badio remains at large — though he recently released an audio voice note threatening critics. Badio is a former consultant to the justice ministry and a fired employee of the government’s anti-corruption unit. A phone call appeared to place him at the scene of the slaying. He made two calls afterward to current interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Badio once described himself as the Haiti-based lawyer for CTU Security.