PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Nearly a month after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, none of the dozens of detained suspects have been taken to court. Some of the judges and clerks investigating the killing have gone into hiding, fearing for their lives and claiming they faced pressure to tamper with reports.
Now -- with the plot and motives still murky -- many Haitians have begun to believe the authorities are also using the investigation as cover to crack down on political foes of the administration trying to keep power after gunmen killed Moise on July 7.
A prosecutor for Port-au-Prince has issued a series of arrest warrants against political opponents -- high-profile evangelical pastors, a former justice minister and Moise critics -- who all say they had nothing to do with the assassination.
Steven Irvenson Benoit, a former senator and presidential candidate in Haiti, described the arrest warrants as "a war" against political enemies who could challenge the country's interim leadership.
In an investigation mired in confusion and chaos, the arrest warrants point to shortcomings in Haiti's justice system and raise questions about whether authorities will ever get to the bottom of Moise's death. It also further complicates the role of U.S. officials and the FBI in an international case with ties alleged to U.S.-trained Colombian military officers and a company based in South Florida.
"The regime in power wants to stay in power, so they issued arrest warrants against those who can be a threat to them," said Gerard Forges, a well-known pastor in Haiti and outspoken critic of Moise who was the subject of one of this week's arrest warrants.
He denied any involvement in the assassination. "What is going on," he said, "is political persecution."
Forty-four people are currently detained in Haiti in connection with the attack, including 18 retired Colombian military officers and several members of Moise's security detail. Haitian and Colombian authorities have said the Colombian ex-military officers were hired by a Florida-based security contracting firm, CTU Security, to travel to Haiti. Some of them were under the impression they would be serving as bodyguards, authorities said.
On Wednesday, more twists and turns were added to the investigation maze.
Lawyers on behalf of the owner of CTU Security, Antonio Intriago, said their client was led to believe his company was providing security for a redevelopment and humanitarian project in Haiti led by Christian Sanon, a Haitian American and self-described pastor and physician now detained in Haiti in connection with the investigation. In return for providing security for the initiative, Haitian officials promised Intriago he would receive a cut from the profits eventually generated from the infrastructure projects, the lawyers' statement said, echoing details from contract proposals obtained by The Washington Post last month.
The statement alleged that Intriago worked with a business associate by the name "Mr. Arcangel" who had a "working relationship" with the FBI. The lawyers claim "Mr. Arcangel" had received assurances from his FBI contacts that the security services were legitimate. These assertions could not be independently verified by The Post, and FBI spokeswoman Manali Basu declined to comment regarding the alleged FBI connections. Records show that a man by the name of "Arcangel, Pretel O." is a business associate of Intriago's at a company called Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy, but it was not clear if the two are the same person.
Intriago did not provide any weapons to the security contractors in Haiti, the statement said, adding that Colombian retired soldiers were awaiting security and firearms permits from Haitian police at the time of the Moise murder. But just before the killing of the president, Intriago learned there had been a change in the plans in Haiti, the lawyers said: The Colombian contractors were asked to accompany a Haitian judge and district attorney to execute an arrest warrant on Moise.
The lawyers alleged the Colombians were told their role was to guard the officials while Haitian police carried out the arrest. "It is our belief that the president's own body guards betrayed him," the statement said.
The lawyers' statement included a letter asking for Intriago's security assistance, purportedly signed by the judge, Windelle Coq Thelot, and the district attorney, Gerald Norgaisse. But both the district attorney and a relative speaking on behalf of the judge said they never signed such a document. The lawyers who issued the statement did not respond to questions from The Post, nor did Intriago.
Shown the signed document, Norgaisse told The Post it was a fake. "It's the first time I'm seeing this document in my life," Norgaisse said. "Someone tried to imitate my signature."
Norgaisse said he has been one of the Haiti prosecutors questioning suspects in the probe into the Moise killing.
Marc-Antoine Maisonneuve, a lawyer for Coq Thelot, told The Post that his client denies any involvement in the assassination of the president.
Coq Thelot, a former Supreme Court judge who was removed by Moise in February amid an alleged attempted coup, is also the subject of an arrest warrant in Haiti in connection with the assassination, Claude, the Haitian prosecutor, said.