Did a Florida security firm provide "material support" to the assassination of Haiti's president?

It’s been six months since federal agents executed search warrants in South Florida focusing on a security firm, Counter Terrorist Unit, or CTU, linked to the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moise, last July.

Although it was identified early on by a Haitian police investigation as playing a possible supportive role in funding and training a team of former Colombian soldiers who allegedly carried out the assassination, there was little evidence that its owners actually knew anything about a plot to kill Moïse.

Dozens of suspects were arrested in Haiti after the assassination, including 17 Colombian former soldiers, but the investigation there has since ground to a halt.

Instead, the parallel U.S. investigation, led by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) agents, has picked up pace in recent weeks following the arrest of three key suspects who fled Haiti after the murder. Two of them are now in U.S. custody, charged for their alleged roles in the murder conspiracy.

The U.S. investigation has revealed new links between CTU, its sister company CTU Federal Academy and some of the suspects jailed in Haiti, possibly exposing its owners to conspiracy charges related to "material support" for the murder.

Moise was killed on the night of July 7 by the Colombian gunmen hired a few weeks earlier by CTU Federal Academy, according to a Haitian police report which Univision obtained a copy of.

CTU Federal Academy’s co-owner, Venezuelan-American businessman, Antonio Intriago, has denied any prior knowledge of the assassination plot and contends he was “duped,” according to his attorneys, Gilbert Lacayo and Joseph Tesmond.

Intriago’s business partner, a Colombian former military contractor, Archangel Pretel, has not spoken publicly about what transpired. His whereabouts are unknown.

CTU Federal Academy hired the retired Colombian soldiers and flew them to Haiti to do security work for development projects there as part of a deal with Christian Sanon, a Haitian-American pastor with political aspirations, according to the Haitian police report and Intriago’s lawyers.

FBI affidavits and a letter

As part of the U.S. investigation, two FBI agents alleged in separate affidavits filed last month that the accused plotters in Haiti reached out to unidentified persons in Miami in late June seeking assistance in the arrest of Moise and his removal from power. In a letter the plotters claimed Moise was no longer the country’s legitimate head of state as his mandate had expired and he was ruling as a “dictator.”

The FBI agents said one of the plotters, identified only as ‘co-conspirator #1’ flew to South Florida on June 28 with the letter, but did not say who it was intended for. The FBI agents said the letter was signed by a judge in the presence of one of the plotters, a convicted drug trafficker and former DEA informant, Rudolphe Jaar, who was arrested earlier this month in the Dominican Republic and extradited to Miami. Jaar was charged last week for his alleged role in the murder conspiracy.

The attorneys for Intriago confirmed he received a letter closely resembling the one described by the FBI, delivered by James Solages, a Haitian-American former security guard who worked closely with Sanon and the Colombians in Haiti, partly as a translator.

Solages was not employed by CTU, but represented to Intriago that he could open doors in Haiti and provide investment and security contract opportunities, according to the CTU attorneys.

However, the FBI affidavit described ‘Co-conspirator #1’ as being directly “responsible for providing equipment and training” for the Colombian former soldiers in Haiti.

"Wrong place/wrong time"

Solages is currently in jail in Haiti. His lawyer Presner Sylvaine, told Univision that his client was recruited as a translator to assist in Sanon’s development project with CTU, and “unfortunately” found himself “in the wrong place at the wrong time, unaware of the macabre plan (to kill Moise).”

He added that his client was “willing to cooperate with all judicial authorities” to prove his innocence.

The letter to Intriago, dated June 22, 2021, requests “that your company… collaborate with our cause and essentially advise us and provide security.”

It adds that the judge “will give immunity, protection and security to their actions in our favor.”

Intriago’s attorneys say he received the letter when Solages briefly dropped by CTU’s office near Miami’s international airport. “Mr Intriago left the letter on his desk and went on a family vacation in Texas over the July 4 holiday,” Tesmond told Univision.

Intriago gave a copy of the letter to Pretel to see if he could authenticate it. Pretel had previously introduced Intriago to several people he brought to CTU’s office who identified themselves as FBI agents and were briefed on the company’s Haiti contract and future plans. “In his mind, Mr Intriago believed everything was being checked with the appropriate authorities every step of the way,” said Tesmond.

But the company never had a chance to study its contents before the president was killed a few days later while Intriago was still on vacation in Texas, according his attorneys.

"Everything was on hold"

Intriago was in fact beginning to have doubts about the viability of the Haiti contract with Sanon. The loan financing as running out and he was still waiting for several Haitian government permits to come through, including work permits for the Colombians as well as weapons permits.

“Everything was on hold. Nothing was happening before he got those permits,” said Tesmond. “Mr Intriago was still contemplating his future course of action when he heard the news of the shooting on July 7,” he added.

July 7

According to the FBI, Solages flew back to Haiti on July 1, six days before the assassination “to participate in the operation.”

“By this point certain co-conspirators had knowledge, or at least believed, that the plan was to assassinate rather than kidnap President Moise,” according to the FBI affidavits.

Six of the Colombian soldiers burst into Moise’s bedroom on the night of July 7 and killed him in cold blood in front of his wife, according to the Haitian police report, which said he was struck by 12 bullets.

Solages was allegedly seen standing outside the residence holding a megaphone and shouting, in English, “this is a DEA operation.”

Jaar told the FBI that he attempted to assist the Colombians after the attack, directing them to hide in the Taiwanese embassy in Haiti until they could be rescued.

Pretel was also on some calls and text messages in which he said help was on its way, according to sources who spoke to Univision Noticias. Some of the Colombians also told investigators that Pretel gave them directions to help them escape, according to audio tapes leaked to Caracol TV.

The investigation

As soon as he returned from Texas, Intriago was interviewed by agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI. He agreed to cooperate and turned over his phone and computers.

Intriago’s lawyers also released a copy of the letter seeking assistance to arrest Moise, as well as a supposed arrest warrant, as part of a press release in August that sought to establish CTU’s lack of involvement in the assassination. “It doesn’t appear like the actions of someone who’s involved in an international conspiracy to kidnap or kill someone,” said Tesmond.

The federal charges filed so far in Miami against Jaar and one of the Colombians, Mario Palacios, specify both conspiracy to “kill or kidnap” as well as “providing material support resulting in death.”

Legal experts say even if Intriago and his partner Pretel were unaware of the plot to assassinate Moise, they could still face a charge of conspiracy to kidnap or providing material support resulting in Moise death, if they failed due to take sufficient precautions to ensure their security contractors were acting legally.

CTU Federal Academy, as well as CTU Inc, its sister company, did not provide any weapons, ammunition or their accessories for the weapons, according to Intriago’s attorneys.

CTU did obtain a $172,000 loan to finance its contract in Haiti, which included hiring the Colombians to provide security for Sanon and any future infrastructure projects that it was awarded under a new government.

Intriago traveled to Haiti twice, meeting with the Colombians as well as several of the Haitians eventually implicated in the assassination, according to several witnessed who spoke to Univision Noticias. During both trips Intriago said he reached out to the U.S. embassy, but without success.

Uniforms/bullet proof vests

The Colombians were equipped with uniforms and given daily work “orders” by CTU Federal Academy, according to witnesses who spoke to Univision. However, this was done without the knowledge of Intriago, his lawyers said.

Some of the Colombian ex-soldiers appeared to have had bulletproof vests but the manner in which those jackets entered Haiti and the responsible party that handled the shipment have yet to be identified. None of the bulletproof vests were shipped by CTU or Intriago to Haiti, his lawyers insist.

Intriago was largely unaware of the day-to-day operations of the Colombian security team which Pretel appears to have taken charge of, the lawyers added.

'Colonel Gabriel'

Pretel never went to Haiti but he held numerous Zoom video calls with the Colombians prior to the July 7 attack, according to several witnesses who spoke to Univision. “He was the boss. Every time they talked to Archangel they saluted him. He wore a uniform. They greeted him as ‘Colonel Gabriel’” one source said.

Pretel knew some of the retired soldiers from his previous work in Colombia in the 1990s, when he went by the name Gabriel Perez, apparently his real name.

Due dilligence

“The argument the government is going to make is they (CTU/CTU Federal Academy) provided the Colombians with everything but guns,” said David Weinstein a former federal prosecutor in Miami now in private practice. “ What it’s going to come down to is how much due diligence did they engage in. For example, how sure were they that the letter from the judge was authentic?” he added.

The letter seeking assistance to arrest Moise is of dubious authenticity. Written in the first person, the letter is purportedly signed by a judge, Windelle Coq and a district attorney, Gerald Norgaisse.

Both Coq and Norgaisse have denied signing the letter. Coq was fired from the Supreme Court in February over her alleged involvement in another plot to unseat Moise. An arrest warrant was issued for Coq, who is now a fugitive.

Intriago’s lawyers say their client arranged to meet with Coq in Haiti but she failed to show up for a meeting. They say Intriago was also assured that she had been reinstated to the court.

Norgaisse is not accused of any wrongdoing and is still in his job. He told Univision he was “revolted” by the contents of the letter and that his signature was “a poor imitation.” The death of Moise was “a terrorist act,” and those responsible “should pay the price,” he added.

He provided Univision with what he said was his real signature on what appeared to be an official court document.

Several witnesses have confirmed to Univision that there was a late change of plan which could have been hidden from CTU Federal Academy, which resulted in the arrest idea being ditched in favor of an assassination. Jaar told the FBI that the operation changed gear after an initial plan failed to “capture” the Haitian president at the airport and fly him out of the country.

Another key suspect who may be able to shed more light on the change of plan, former Haitian Senator John Joel Joseph, was also arrested last month after smuggling his way to Jamaica. He is expected to be extradited to Miami.

The lawyers for Intriago contend that he was kept totally in the dark, while recognizing that the circumstances are deeply embarrassing for their client.

“He was duped into believing that his company was going to be awarded some kind of security contracts for future development projects under a new government. He had no idea what was going on behind the scenes," said Tesmond.

Intriago has not been charged with any crime and he continues to make himself available to law enforcement authorities investigating the death of Moise, he added.