Ex-DEA informant pleads guilty to role in killing Haitian president

Joseph Vincent, a former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informant, on Tuesday became the fourth person to plead guilty in a U.S. court case for his role in the 2021 assassination of Haiti's president, which left a destabilizing power vacuum. A Haitian-American national, Vincent is among 11 defendants who include Colombian ex-soldiers and businessmen accused of helping supply funds and weapons and carrying out the nighttime attack at President Jovenel Moise's Port-au-Prince home.

Joseph Vincent, a former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informant, on Tuesday became the fourth person to plead guilty in a U.S. court case for his role in the 2021 assassination of Haiti's president, which left a destabilizing power vacuum.

A Haitian-American national, Vincent is among 11 defendants who include Colombian ex-soldiers and businessmen accused of helping supply funds and weapons and carrying out the nighttime attack at President Jovenel Moise's Port-au-Prince home. Vincent was arrested days after the attack alongside another Haitian-American, James Solages. Both men initially said they were hired by the conspirators as interpreters.

At the time of the attack, Haiti's then-ambassador to the United States said the gunmen who entered Moise's guarded hillside residence were masquerading as DEA agents. The DEA later said neither Vincent nor Solages were acting on behalf of the agency.

Vincent's guilty plea follows those of former Haitian Senator Joseph Joel John, retired Colombian army colonel German Rivera and Haitian-Chilean citizen Rodolphe Jaar, the latter accused of helping supply the guns and vehicles for the attack. Jaar and Rivera were both sentenced to life in prison, while John is expected to be sentenced on Dec. 19.

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