Christian Emmanuel Sanon (pictured above), a self-proclaimed doctor who lives in Broward County, Florida, has been arrested for being one of the masterminds behind the brutal assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse on July 7th.
The head of Haiti’s police force, Léon Charles, says that Sanon is responsible for recruiting the gunmen involved in killing the President through a firm that provides politicians with security.
According to CBS Miami, officials say that Sanon flew into Haiti last month on a private jet with “political motives.” Investigators said that those motives were to arrest President Moïse so that Sanon could take his place as President. It is still unclear as to why the plot to arrest Moïse escalated into an assassination, but officials say that after his trip to Haiti, Sanon recruited 22 more people to join his plot.
Charles and other officials who are part of the investigation were able to retrieve information regarding the assassination plot by interrogating the suspects, as well as obtaining background information on Sanon that explained his political motivation. Authorities were able to pinpoint Sanon as one of the masterminds because one of the suspects contacted Sanon’s phone following the assassination.
As far as his political background, Sanon released a series of videos in 2011 titled, “Leadership for Haiti,” criticizing the Haitian government for corruption and advocating himself as “new leadership that will change the way of life.” He also criticized Haitian leadership in international affairs by claiming that they allow other countries to strip them of their natural resources and keep the profits for themselves rather than the country. He claims their natural resources include uranium, oil, and gold.
While the Pentagon analyzes a request for U.S. troops in Haiti, officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have already been deployed to aid in the investigation.
Of the 29 suspects involved in Moïse’s murder, three of them were Haitian citizens while the other 26 were Colombian “commandos” as stated by Charles. Since investigations began, 21 suspects have been arrested, three have been killed, and five are still at large.
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Casey Owens is a contributing writer for The Florida Capital Star. Follow him on Twitter at @cowensreports. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Christian Sanon” by Christian Sanon.
