Doctor charged with plotting the assassination of Haiti’s president is attempting to enter politics.
Christian Sanon, the Haitian-American doctor charged with plotting the assassination of Haiti’s President, spent months planning a foray into national politics in the country, holding weekly Zoom meetings with academics and business leaders through early this year and meeting with the man who allegedly supplied the mercenaries involved in the killing, according to a person familiar with the matter.
According to those involved, the political effort never included a plan for a violent overthrow. Two men who attended meetings with Sanon described him as a thoughtful politician who genuinely cared about the country’s improvement. And a letter sent in late May to a senior US State Department official described a serious project that had the backing of Haitian leaders who “represent approximately 80% of the population.”
However, authorities in Colombia and Haiti claim that Sanon had a back-up plan. According to Haitian police, Sanon recruited the more than two dozen men who stormed the residence of assassinated President Jovenel Moise in an attempt to seize power.
Sanon met with two Colombian commandos leading the operation in May, the Colombian police chief said Thursday, and the group’s initial plan was to detain and hand over the President to the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
Sanon was arrested over the weekend in Haiti during a raid on a house where police recovered boxes of ammunition, 24 unused shooting targets, and a cap labeled “DEA,” according to a source familiar with the investigation who is not authorized to discuss the incident. CNN reported Wednesday that Sanon told police he had no knowledge of the attack. CNN has been unable to contact Sanon or any of the other individuals arrested in the aftermath of the assassination.
The assassination and intrigue surrounding the police investigation read like a novel in comparison to the above-board political campaign that Sanon ran, according to people familiar with the political process.
Parnell Duverger, an economist and former university professor in Florida, said in an interview Wednesday that he attended several online meetings beginning in 2020 where Sanon and a group of other Haiti experts crafted an agenda for a transitional government led by Sanon.
According to Durverger, Sanon told the group that he had the support of the US and the international community in his bid for leadership, although he provided no evidence to support that claim.
The group operated on the assumption that Haiti’s President would eventually resign in the face of mounting protests, paving the way for the establishment of an interim government, Duverger explained. He stated that there was never any discussion of a coup attempt.
“The Zoom meetings, in my opinion, brought together a group of specialists and good people who were extremely knowledgeable in their fields — whether agriculture or education, for example — and who actually put together a government agenda that would be fairly successful if implemented,” Duverger said.
Other sessions were conducted face-to-face. One meeting in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which Duverger believes occurred in early May, was attended by Antonino Intriago and Walter Veintemilla, two men implicated in the assassination in recent days.
Intriago, a Venezuelan resident of south Florida, owns the security firm that police allege supplied the assassins. According to authorities, Sanon hired the firm CTU to recruit the men. CNN was unable to contact CTU or Intriago.
Veinemilla is the president of the Worldwide Capital Lending Group, according to Florida corporate records, a company that police in Haiti said Wednesday assisted in “collecting money for the men to carry out the acts.”
Worldwide Capital Lending Group denied any involvement in the plot in a statement sent to CNN on Thursday, stating that it provided a loan that included funding for “private security for Dr. Sanon and other Haitian dignitaries due to the ongoing violence in Haiti” after being approached by Sanon and current and former Haitian elected officials “to assist in obtaining financing for power plants.”
“At no point during any meeting or conversation with Dr. Sanon or any of his representatives was there any discussion, discussion, or suggestion of an assassination plot against President Moise or the intention to use force to effect a change of leadership in Haiti,” the company stated.
“Contrary to certain media reports, no Worldwide Capital Lending Group representative has ever attended meetings in the Dominican Republic or Haiti,” the company added.
Duverger stated that the meeting in Fort Lauderdale was to discuss “financing the construction of infrastructures necessary for Haiti to achieve sustainable economic development in less than 30 years.”
The New York Times was the first to report on Sanon’s political campaign meetings.
Sanon allegedly changed his mind earlier this year and informed the group that he desired to become Haiti’s president rather than prime minister, according to Duverger.
The plan was detailed in a letter sent in late May to a senior State Department official.
The letter, signed “the People of Haiti,” was posted on a now-defunct website advocating for Sanon’s leadership in a transitional government and warning of an impending crisis at Moise’s hands.
“Moise has demonstrated his intention to use his power, intimidation, and unending widespread brutality to broaden and extend his control of Haiti by establishing a new ‘Constitution’ in a matter of weeks,” the letter states. “We pray that this does not occur, but time is running out; as you are aware, a ‘fuse’ has been lit since February 7! Something must be done immediately.”
A State Department spokesperson referred CNN’s inquiries about the investigation to Haitian authorities, but added that they “receive a steady flow of correspondence.”
“We engage in off-the-record conversations with Haitian-American individuals and groups. Additionally, we receive a steady stream of correspondence “According to the spokesperson.
“We have long advocated for the collaboration of Haitian political leaders and civil society in order to strengthen democratic institutions and reach an inclusive solution that promotes peace and stability,” they stated.
There are indications that the website’s and letter’s support for Sanon may have been exaggerated. A prominent United Nations consultant listed on the website as a member of a coalition supporting the doctor’s leadership stated in an interview that he was unaware of his listing on the site and had met with Sanon once.
The consultant, Frantz Gilot, stated that he discussed criminal justice issues in Haiti during a January meeting with Sanon and more than 20 others involved in the political effort.
However, he stated that he was “uninterested” in the project.
“Someone spelled my name incorrectly on this site,” he explained. “I am not a supporter of Mr. Sanon or his organization.”
Additionally, an official from Haiti’s UN mission is depicted as a supporter of Sanon. Messages left for the official have gone unanswered.
Duverger stated that the Zoom meetings were discontinued earlier this year. Sanon’s desire to lead and improve Haiti appeared genuine at the time, he said. However, in light of the assassination and Sanon’s arrest, his perspective has shifted.
“At the moment, I am skeptical of anything that man said. I believe we were all duped “As Duverger stated.
