Latest news with #Haitian-American
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Blackwater founder Erik Prince teams with Haitian government to fight gang violence
Private military contractor Erik Prince, the former Navy SEAL and founder of Blackwater Worldwide, is working with the Haitian government to repel the gangs terrorizing the Caribbean nation. Prince's role will be to advise the Haitian government and its undermanned and underequipped police force on how to take on the street gangs amid record levels of violence in which thousands of people have been killed, injured and abducted. "That goes beyond just the security question and extends to restoring essential government services, but obviously everything is founded on restoring security," the source said. Trump Administration Takes Hard Line On Haitian Violence, Labels Gangs Foreign Terrorist Organizations Armed groups have taken over prisons, hospitals and swaths of territory, forcing people to flee their homes. In April 2024, thousands fled the capital of Port-au-Prince for rural regions because of escalating gang violence there. The Pentagon deferred questions by Fox News Digital to the Haitian government, which has also been contacted by Fox News Digital. Read On The Fox News App Fox News Digital also reached out to Prince. While Blackwater no longer exists, Prince owns various private military entities, the New York Times reported. The State Department told Fox News Digital that the United States is not involved in any private security contract negotiations regarding Haiti and that Prince is not being paid by the U.S. government. Prince has been speaking with the Haitian government on how to fight well-armed gangs like Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif, which have been designated by the State Department as foreign terrorist organizations, and restore security and stability, the source said. Trump To Name Haitian Gangs Foreign Terrorist Organizations: Report A special task force to take on the gangs has been set up. That group will lead the effort with support from international partners and experts. So far, the task force has used drones. "While it may be true that no leaders have been taken out yet, a significant number of senior gang members have been killed or wounded," the source said. "For the first time, the police are starting to put real pressure on them, and their capabilities are growing. So we hope to see an improvement of the situation over the coming months." The key is to do it in a way that is precise and mitigates risks to civilians, the source added. Security experts told the New York Times that Prince has also been scouting to hire Haitian-American military veterans to send to Port-au-Prince. He is expected to send up to 150 mercenaries to Haiti over the summer and recently shipped a large cache of weapons to the country, two experts told the newspaper. Military contractors in Haiti have a checkered history. In 2021, Colombian mercenaries hired by an American security firm were accused of taking part in the assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse. Rod Joseph, a Haitian-American Army veteran who owns a Florida-based security officer training company, told the New York Times that he had been in talks with Prince to help supply personnel for his contract since late last article source: Blackwater founder Erik Prince teams with Haitian government to fight gang violence
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Judge delays Miami trial of five men accused of plotting assassination of Haiti's president
The Miami trial of five men accused of plotting the assassination of Haiti's president has again been delayed, this time to March 2026 — almost five years after the fatal shooting of Jovenel Moïse at his suburban home outside Port-au-Prince. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra said at a recent hearing that she was not happy about delaying the federal trial, which was originally set for March and then postponed until September of this year. Becerra said she had no choice but to push it back again because of the massive volume of evidence, including more than 2.5 million text messages, emails and other records, that federal prosecutors are still turning over to the defense lawyers — a basic discovery issue that has turned into a sore point for the judge. 'I do not take it lightly in any way that this case has been delayed,' Becerra told the five defendants, who were arrested and taken into federal custody in the months after the July 7, 2021, assassination of Moïse. 'This is not a delay that I am at all happy with.' Compounding the run-up to the Miami trial: Armed gangs have been terrorizing Haiti, a country in free fall without a political leader, making it unsafe for the defense lawyers in Miami to go there and question ex-Colombian soldiers jailed in Port-au-Prince on Haitian charges of assisting in the slaying of the president. As a result, Judge Becerra granted the defense team's request to take video depositions of five of the Colombians, who represent about one-third of the former commandos in jail. 'Although the difficulties of traveling to Haiti to conduct these depositions should not be understated, there appears to be no reason why the depositions could not take place over video conference,' Becerra ruled after the May 19 hearing on the trial date and other issues. Despite the judge's approval of these critical depositions, there is one potential Haitian witness whom the defense lawyers in Miami won't be able to question: Former Haitian Superior Court Judge Windelle Coq Thélot, who died in January. Haitian authorities considered Thélot a key suspect in the investigation of Moïse's killing. But she took to the grave unanswered questions about her alleged role in the assassination plot and whether she indeed promised immunity to the defendants in Miami who are accused of directing it. According to prosecutors in Miami, Thélot gained the support of the suspected plotters in South Florida as a replacement for Moïse in June 2021, when they decided that Christian Sanon, a Haitian priest and physician, 'was not a viable option to take over' the presidency. Thélot's 'apparent signature' appeared on a written request for assistance to arrest Haiti's president that 'purported to provide Haitian immunity' to the conspirators in South Florida, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court. One of the suspects, Haitian-American maintenance worker James Solages, traveled from Haiti to Miami on June 28, 2021, to deliver the document to another suspect, Antonio 'Tony' Intriago,' the owner of a security business. On July 1, Solages traveled back to Haiti and five days later met with several conspirators at a house near Moïse's residence. Solages 'falsely told those gathered that it was a 'CIA Operation, and, in substance, said that the mission was to kill President Moïse,' the FBI affidavit stated. Solages and other suspects drove in a convoy to the president's home on the night of July 7, the assassination date. Once inside the residence, Solages declared they were involved in a 'DEA Operation' to ensure 'compliance from' Moïse's security team, the affidavit stated. Some of the ex-Colombian soldiers recruited for the mission were assigned to find and kill the president. On July 22, federal agents questioned Solages while he was in Haitian custody. After he was read his Miranda rights, Solages admitted that by mid-June 2021, 'he knew that the plan was to ultimately assassinate President Moïse,' according to the FBI affidavit. To date in the U.S. case, five of the 11 defendants have pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill Haiti's president, resulting in life sentences that they hope to get reduced with their cooperation. Among those convicted: two ex-Colombian commandos, a former Haitian senator, a Haitian-American man who worked as an informant for the DEA, and a previously convicted Haitian drug trafficker. A sixth defendant, a Tampa businessman, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges involving the smuggling of bulletproof vests that were illegally exported to Haiti for the group of ex-Colombian soldiers who carried out the deadly attack. The remaining five defendants are charged with conspiring in South Florida to kidnap or kill Haiti's leader and related charges, including recruiting the Colombian commandos. The conspiracy charge carries up to life in prison. The defendants facing trial are: Intriago, the head of a Miami-area security firm, CTU; Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, a former FBI informant who joined Intriago at CTU; Walter Veintemilla, a Broward County financier; Solages, the Haitian American; and Sanon, who was initially seen by the group as a successor to Moïse as Haiti's president. All five defendants are being held in a federal lock-up before trial. Of the five remaining defendants, Sanon was the only one who told the judge at the hearing this month that he opposed delaying the trial until March of next year. But Judge Becerra, while showing sympathy for his pre-trial detention over nearly four years in Haiti and Miami, said holding one trial for him and another for the others was not practical for several reasons. 'Given the complexity of the case, the government wants all the defendants tried together,' Becerra told Sanon. 'I am not inclined to try your case in September and all the other defendants in March [2026].' In February 2024, Sanon was charged with the others with conspiring to kill Haiti's leader, after first being accused of trying to carry out a military expedition against a foreign country. It was the fifth superseding indictment filed by prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office and Justice Department. Since then, most of the team has been replaced with new prosecutors. The other four defendants did not oppose the trial delay when questioned by the judge, though Intriago expressed his frustration over the prosecution's sharing of evidence in the high-profile case. 'I don't understand why we don't have everything in our hands,' Intriago told the judge. 'I just wanted to express my frustration that the government give us all the information and not hide anything from us.' Since the president's assassination at his home outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti has plunged into total chaos as armed gangs have terrorized the island nation with no presidential election on the horizon. While the U.S. investigation led by the FBI moved quickly to arrests and charges in Miami, Haiti's probe of the president's slaying only resulted in an indictment in February 2024. A total of 51 people were charged by an investigative judge in collaboration with a prosecutor. Sanon is the only defendant charged in the Haiti prosecution that was also named as a defendant in the Miami case. Among those in Haiti accused of the deadly attack: the slain president's widow, Martine Moïse, who suffered gunshot wounds during the assault on the family's home.
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
A desperate Haiti turns to a Trump ally in fight against gangs
Advertisement Security experts said Prince has also been scouting Haitian-American military veterans to hire to send to Port-au-Prince and is expected to send up to 150 mercenaries to Haiti over the summer. He recently shipped a large cache of weapons to the country, two experts said. The Haitian government is awaiting the arrival of arms shipments and more personnel to step up its fight against the gangs. US officials said they were aware of Prince's work with Haiti's government. But the full terms of the Haitian government's arrangement with Prince, including how much it is paying him, are unknown. This article is based on interviews with a dozen people who follow Haiti closely. All but one spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive security matters publicly. Advertisement The State Department, which has provided millions of dollars in funding to equip and train Haiti's National Police, said it is not paying Prince or his company for any work in Haiti. Prince declined to comment for this article. Blackwater no longer exists, but Prince owns other private military entities. The involvement of civilian contractors like Prince, a Trump donor who has a long and checkered history in the private security industry, marks a pivotal moment in Haiti. Its crisis has deepened since its last president was assassinated in 2021, and the government now appears willing to take desperate measures to secure control. Armed groups escalated the violence last year by uniting and taking over prisons, burning down police stations and attacking hospitals. About 1 million people have been forced to flee their homes and hundreds of thousands are living in shelters. Gangs have captured so much territory in recent months that United Nations officials have warned that the capital is in danger of falling under complete criminal control. The situation is dire enough that officials and civilians alike say they are eager for any overseas help, particularly after a $600 million international police mission started by the Biden administration and largely staffed by Kenyan police officers failed to receive adequate international personnel and money. With Haiti's undermanned and underequipped police force struggling to contain the gangs, the government is turning to private military contractors equipped with high-powered weapons, helicopters, and sophisticated surveillance and attack drones to take on the well-armed gangs. At least one other American security company is working in Haiti, though details of its role are secret. Since drone attacks targeting gangs started in March, they have killed more than 200 people, according to Pierre Esperance, who runs a leading human rights organization in Port-au-Prince. Advertisement After the US occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq ended, security firms like those owned by Prince started seeing big streams of revenues dry up. Private military contractors are looking for new opportunities, and they see possibilities in Latin America. Before presidential elections in Ecuador this year, Prince toured the country with local police and promised to help security forces. The country has faced a wave of violence unleashed by gangs. Ecuadorian officials denied that they had signed any security deal with Prince. A person close to Prince said he hopes to expand the scope of his work in Haiti to include help with customs, transport, revenue collection, and other government services that need to be restored for the country to stabilize. Rampant government corruption is a key reason Haiti's finances are in shambles. The Haitian prime minister's office and a presidential council, which was formed to run the country until presidential elections can be held, did not respond to several requests for comment. Prince, whose sister Betsy DeVos was secretary of education during Trump's first term, donated more than $250,000 to help elect Trump in 2016, according to campaign finance records. He was often cited as an informal 'adviser' to Trump's first transition to office, a description he denied. Haiti's experience with private military contractors goes back decades. When US forces returned former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power in 1994 after he was ousted in a bloody military coup, he was accompanied by a private security team from the San Francisco-based Steele Foundation. Advertisement In recent years, military contractors in Haiti have had a more tainted record. Colombian mercenaries hired by an American security firm were accused of taking part in the 2021 assassination of the last elected president, Jovenel Moïse. Rod Joseph, a Haitian-American US Army veteran who owns a Florida-based security officer training company, said he had been in talks with Prince to help supply personnel for his contract since late last year. Joseph, who trained Haitian police on the use of surveillance drones, said Prince gave him the impression that his plans were under the auspices of the US government but then shifted to be directly under the purview of the Haitian government. He said Prince told him that he planned to send private soldiers from El Salvador to Haiti along with three helicopters to engage in attacks against the gangs. Prince texted him a few days ago, Joseph said, seeking a list of Haitian-American veterans to send to Haiti, but he declined to provide names unless Prince could provide more precise details of their mission and would allow Joseph to lead them. US military contractors doing defense work overseas are required to obtain a license from the State Department, but those licenses are not public record. Prince has been trying to expand his portfolio and has traveled overseas in search of new business, said Sean McFate, a professor at the National Defense University and author of 'The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order.' Prince is viewed skeptically by other members of the private military industry, McFate said, because of his showy nature and the negative publicity he generates for a security industry that prides itself on a 'sense of professionalism.' Advertisement 'It's always worth noting where Prince is going, because it's sort of a barometer of where he thinks Trump world might end up, and he wants to make a buck from it,' McFate said. But experts stress that Haitians are desperate for solutions — regardless of where they come from. 'The doors are open. All possibilities must be on the table,' Haiti's minister of economy and finance, Alfred Métellus, told Le Nouvelliste, a Haitian newspaper, last month. 'We are looking for all Haitians, all foreigners who have expertise in this field and who want to support us, want to support the police and the army to unblock the situation.'
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Judge delays Miami trial of five men accused of plotting assassination of Haiti's president
The Miami trial of five men accused of plotting the assassination of Haiti's president has again been delayed, this time to March 2026 — almost five years after the fatal shooting of Jovenel Moïse at his suburban home outside Port-au-Prince. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra said at a recent hearing that she was not happy about delaying the federal trial, which was originally set for March and then postponed until September of this year. Becerra said she had no choice but to push it back again because of the massive volume of evidence, including more than 2.5 million text messages, emails and other records, that federal prosecutors are still turning over to the defense lawyers — a basic discovery issue that has turned into a sore point for the judge. 'I do not take it lightly in any way that this case has been delayed,' Becerra told the five defendants, who were arrested and taken into federal custody in the months after the July 7, 2021, assassination of Moïse. 'This is not a delay that I am at all happy with.' Compounding the run-up to the Miami trial: Armed gangs have been terrorizing Haiti, a country in free fall without a political leader, making it unsafe for the defense lawyers in Miami to go there and question ex-Colombian soldiers jailed in Port-au-Prince on Haitian charges of assisting in the slaying of the president. As a result, Judge Becerra granted the defense team's request to take video depositions of five of the Colombians, who represent about one-third of the former commandos in jail. 'Although the difficulties of traveling to Haiti to conduct these depositions should not be understated, there appears to be no reason why the depositions could not take place over video conference,' Becerra ruled after the May 19 hearing on the trial date and other issues. Despite the judge's approval of these critical depositions, there is one potential Haitian witness whom the defense lawyers in Miami won't be able to question: Former Haitian Superior Court Judge Windelle Coq Thélot, who died in January. Haitian authorities considered Thélot a key suspect in the investigation of Moïse's killing. But she took to the grave unanswered questions about her alleged role in the assassination plot and whether she indeed promised immunity to the defendants in Miami who are accused of directing it. According to prosecutors in Miami, Thélot gained the support of the suspected plotters in South Florida as a replacement for Moïse in June 2021, when they decided that Christian Sanon, a Haitian priest and physician, 'was not a viable option to take over' the presidency. Thélot's 'apparent signature' appeared on a written request for assistance to arrest Haiti's president that 'purported to provide Haitian immunity' to the conspirators in South Florida, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court. One of the suspects, Haitian-American maintenance worker James Solages, traveled from Haiti to Miami on June 28, 2021, to deliver the document to another suspect, Antonio 'Tony' Intriago,' the owner of a security business. On July 1, Solages traveled back to Haiti and five days later met with several conspirators at a house near Moïse's residence. Solages 'falsely told those gathered that it was a 'CIA Operation, and, in substance, said that the mission was to kill President Moïse,' the FBI affidavit stated. Solages and other suspects drove in a convoy to the president's home on the night of July 7, the assassination date. Once inside the residence, Solages declared they were involved in a 'DEA Operation' to ensure 'compliance from' Moïse's security team, the FBI stated. Some of the ex-Colombian soldiers recruited for the mission were assigned to find and kill the president. Suspect knew about assassination plan: FBI On July 22, federal agents questioned Solages while he was in Haitian custody. After he was read his Miranda rights, Solages admitted that by mid-June 2021, 'he knew that the plan was to ultimately assassinate President Moïse,' according to the FBI affidavit. To date in the U.S. case, five of the 11 defendants have pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill Haiti's president, resulting in life sentences that they hope to get reduced with their cooperation. Among those convicted: two ex-Colombian commandos, a former Haitian senator, a Haitian-American man who worked as an informant for the DEA, and a previously convicted Haitian drug trafficker. A sixth defendant, a Tampa businessman, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges involving the smuggling of bulletproof vests that were illegally exported to Haiti for the group of ex-Colombian soldiers who carried out the deadly attack. The remaining five defendants are charged with conspiring in South Florida to kidnap or kill Haiti's leader and related charges, including recruiting the Colombian commandos. The conspiracy charge carries up to life in prison. The defendants facing trial are: Intriago, the head of a Miami-area security firm, CTU; Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, a former FBI informant who joined Intriago at CTU; Walter Veintemilla, a Broward County financier; Solages, the Haitian American; and Sanon, who was initially seen by the group as a successor to Moïse as Haiti's president. All five defendants are being held in a federal lock-up before trial. Of the five remaining defendants, Sanon was the only one who told the judge at the hearing this month that he opposed delaying the trial until March of next year. But Judge Becerra, while showing sympathy for his pre-trial detention over nearly four years in Haiti and Miami, said holding one trial for him and another for the others was not practical for several reasons. 'Given the complexity of the case, the government wants all the defendants tried together,' Becerra told Sanon. 'I am not inclined to try your case in September and all the other defendants in March [2026].' In February 2024, Sanon was charged with the others with conspiring to kill Haiti's leader, after first being accused of trying to carry out a military expedition against a foreign country. It was the fifth superseding indictment filed by prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office and Justice Department. Since then, most of the team has been replaced with new prosecutors. The other four defendants did not oppose the trial delay when questioned by the judge, though Intriago expressed his frustration over the prosecution's sharing of evidence in the high-profile case. 'I don't understand why we don't have everything in our hands,' Intriago told the judge. 'I just wanted to express my frustration that the government give us all the information and not hide anything from us.' Haiti devolves into chaos Since the president's assassination at his home outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti has plunged into total chaos as armed gangs have terrorized the island nation with no presidential election on the horizon. While the U.S. investigation led by the FBI moved quickly to arrests and charges in Miami, Haiti's probe of the president's slaying only resulted in an indictment in February 2024. A total of 51 people were charged by an investigative judge in collaboration with a prosecutor. Sanon is the only defendant charged in the Haiti prosecution that was also named as a defendant in the Miami case. Among those in Haiti accused of the deadly attack: the slain president's widow, Martine Moïse, who suffered gunshot wounds during the assault on the family's home.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Vestal senior appointed to Naval Academy
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – A Binghamton teenager is Broome County's only appointee to the Naval Academy for the next school year. Reagan Young attends Vestal High School where she has had an exceptional career both academically and athletically. Young is receiving an International Baccalaureate diploma and is the President of the Senior Class. She also plays lacrosse, basketball, flag football, and is on the swimming and track teams. Young says she is honored to be chosen for such a prestigious and competitive appointment. The Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland has only an 8 to 10 percent acceptance rate. As part of the process, she had to be nominated by former Congressman Marc Molinaro. Young says she was originally inspired to join the military by watching the movie G.I. Jane as a little girl. 'Around 8th grade, I kept seeing a bunch of these videos on my social media. So, I really looked into it and was, 'Wow, these people who I'm seeing online are very skilled, very determined.' I feel like I'd be a great fit for that, so I looked into it. I looked into the rigor of the academy and the prestige of it, and I knew that's where I wanted to go, that's where I wanted to be,' said Young. Young's journey will begin with Pleb Summer, a sort of basic training for the freshman class. After four years of academic study and training, she will graduate as a commissioned officer. Young says she's interested in possibly becoming a Navy pilot or a surface warfare officer stationed on an aircraft carrier. Event at Binghamton City Hall brings local Haitian-American community together Owego man walks 16 miles to work to raise money for veterans Food and Farm Showcase: New Leaf Cider Co Vestal senior appointed to Naval Academy Elizabeth Church Manor up for sale by United Methodist Homes Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
