Haitian-Chilean Rodolphe Jaar, accused in the United States of participating in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse last July, confessed that provided weapons and ammunition to Colombian mercenaries and tried to help them hide in embassies of other countries after the assassination.
Jaar, 49, arrested since Wednesday in Miami, will have aa detention hearing next Wednesday, January 26 and another in which the charges will be formally read to him on February 3.
The Haitian-Chilean, who appeared Thursday for a first court hearing before Judge Lauren Fleischer Louis, invoked the right to remain silent, according to court documents.
However, according to the indictment, released this Friday, Jaar confessed to the US authorities that he participated in the assassination in a “voluntary statement” on December 9.
“Jaar admitted that he provided firearms and ammunition to Colombians to support the assassination operation,” the document details.
“He admitted to having tried to help co-conspirator number 1 and the Colombians, directing them to hide them in the embassy of another country in Haiti,” it adds.
According to the indictment, Jaar said that the operation changed from one of arrest to one of murder after the initial plan to “capture” the president at the airport and fly him away fell through.
The Haitian-Chilean faces charges of “conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States and providing material support resulting in death.”
He is the second person to face an indictment in the United States. for the assassination of Haiti after the Colombian military (r) Mario Antonio Palacios was charged for that crime on January 4 in a Miami court.
Jaar was arrested in the Dominican Republic and agreed to travel to the United States, detailed the Prosecutor’s Office.
If found guilty, Jaar faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
After the murder, Jaar allegedly contacted another accomplice (referred to in the complaint as Conspirator #1) and others to help while they hid from Haitian authorities.
According to the US Attorney’s Office, the defendant and others, including a group of approximately 20 Colombian citizens and several Haitian-Americans, participated in a plot to kidnap or kill the Haitian president.
underline that Jaar was present when the number 1 conspirator obtained the signature of a former Haitian judge in a written request for assistance in furthering the arrest and imprisonment of President Moïse.