![\"Police](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1233999064-GI.JPG\" "\\"Police")
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Police stand guard outside the residence of late Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince on July 15, 2021, in the wake of his assassination the week before.<\/p>\n
VALERIE BAERISWYL<\/p>\n
AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
The six Colombian commandos stood in front of a pickup truck in the brightly lit courtyard of the sprawling home in the hills above Port-au-Prince.<\/p>\n
James Solages, a Haitian-American handyman who had been portraying himself as an Iraq War veteran and paid employee for U.S. government agencies, stepped forward and began speaking in English as a leader of one of the former Colombian soldiers translated into Spanish.<\/p>\n
Nearby, former Haiti senator Joseph Jo\u00ebl John leaned over a wall, straining to follow the conversation with his limited understanding of both languages.<\/p>\n
John, who had just had a tense exchange with Solages about a plan to remove Haitian President Jovenel Mo\u00efse from power, watched as a circle formed around Solages. Among those gathered were Joseph Vincent, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration informant; Joseph F\u00e9lix Badio, who claimed he worked for the Department of Homeland Security; and Rodolphe \u201cDodof\u201d Jaar, a onetime DEA informant who owned the home where the group met that summer night more than four years ago.<\/p>\n
The circle, John told a federal jury in Miami this week, expanded to 10 people as Solages broke the huddle and ordered what he called \u201cthe special commando\u201d team into the pickup to carry out the plan to kill the president at his nearby residence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe person who was calling the shots was James Solages,\u201d John, 55, testified Thursday. \u201cHe took his position as the boss. He excluded me from two meetings he was having so that I wouldn\u2019t oppose the assassination of Jovenel Mo\u00efse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Solages\u2019 lawyer, Jonathan Friedman, challenged John\u2019s insistence that his client was responsible for the assassination. He accused him of \u201cspeculating\u201d and \u201csaying anything to please the government in this trial to point the finger\u201d at Solages.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will say anything in front of this jury to get a reduction of your sentence?\u201d Friedman said, to which John defiantly repeated his description of Solages that night assuming the role of \u201ccommander in chief\u201d before leaving for Mo\u00efse\u2019s house with steadfast determination.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not come to accuse anyone. I came to tell the truth,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was going to kill Jovenel and put the house on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
In December 2023, John received a life sentence in the U.S.<\/a> case after pleading guilty to knowingly conspiring to provide material support to assassinate Mo\u00efse, who was killed on July 7, 2021; providing that support himself, and knowingly conspiring to murder a person outside the United States.<\/p>\n First government cooperating witness<\/p>\n John is the first of six government cooperating witnesses to testify at the trial of four South Florida men charged with conspiring to kidnap and kill Haiti\u2019s president. He is hoping to gain a reduced sentence in exchange for his testimony on behalf of the government.<\/p>\n Over four days on the stand, John described the events leading up to the president\u2019s assassination, when Mo\u00efse was shot a dozen times inside his bedroom and his wife, Martine, was seriously wounded. John also provided insights into some of the central figures and critical turning points in the plan, including a Doral-area firm, Counter Terrorist Unit Security, which allegedly hired the former Colombian soldiers and promised the assistance of airplanes, weapons and \u201c5,500 agents\u201d to dislodge Mo\u00efse along with the aid of armed gangs and a rogue police group.<\/p>\n John, who ended up fleeing Haiti for Jamaica in August 2021 after the brazen slaying, wrapped up his testimony for the government detailing the hours before a convoy of the Colombians, Haiti national policemen along with Solages, Vincent and Badio stormed the president\u2019s P\u00e8lerin 5 neighborhood in the middle of the night. His testimony offered one of the clearest descriptions yet of a pivotal moment in the plot \u2014 how it began as an effort to remove Mo\u00efse from power and turned into an assassination that plunged Haiti deeper into gang-fueled terror and despair.<\/p>\n Plot hijacked?<\/p>\n On trial are Solages, a CTU employee who served as a conduit with the Haitians; Arc\u00e1ngel Pretel Ortiz, a Colombian national and former FBI informant; Antonio \u201cTony\u201d Intriago, the Venezuelan-American owner of CTU along with Pretel, who ran CTU Federal Academy, and Walter Veintemilla, an Ecuadorian American accused of helping finance the plan. A fifth defendant, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haiti-born pastor and doctor who had sought to replace Mo\u00efse as president, will be tried separately because of health issues.<\/p>\n The trial is now headed into its sixth week, with John\u2019s testimony taking all week, a fact not lost on U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra. Before John\u2019s testimony finally wrapped up and the government introduced its second cooperating witness, Jaar, she expressed her frustration, noting that the attorneys have been \u201carguing with the witness\u201d and each other in front of the jury.<\/p>\n Under cross-examination, the defense sought to undermine John\u2019s credibility, pointing to statements that he made to the FBI after his arrest in Jamaica in January 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cYou said to an FBI agent, CTU did not assassinate president Jovenel Mo\u00efse,\u201d defense attorney David Howard said. \u201cYou said that, and it\u2019s not a lie, is it?\u201d<\/p>\n John, also known as John Jo\u00ebl Joseph, had met with prosecutors 31 times to prepare for his testimony, and Howard argued that his story kept changing. John denied he had changed his account multiple times \u2014 though he acknowledged that he had initially withheld information out of fear for his life, and insisted that now he is telling the truth.<\/p>\n Howard also pressed a key defense argument: The plan to arrest Mo\u00efse, using a warrant signed by a Haitian judge, was hijacked by members of the presidential-security detail and Haitian national police, resulting in the president having been killed by the time the convoy of Colombian commandos arrived at his home.<\/p>\n Central to that defense is Badio \u2014 who, according to John\u2019s testimony, suggested that they cut up Mo\u00efse\u2019s body, put it in a barrel and dump it in the ocean.<\/p>\n Badio, it was revealed during trial, also paid for rental vehicles and procured DEA patches and diplomatic license plates to make the scheme falsely appear like a U.S. government-sanctioned operation.<\/p>\n Though he has not been charged in the United States, Badio has also been mentioned by prosecutors. A lawyer, he was fired from his job in the Haitian government\u2019s anti-corruption unit in May 2021. He first met John a month earlier after the former Haitian lawmaker and security-company owner returned from a trip to South Florida, where he had spent three days meeting with all four of the defendants, as well as Sanon and others.<\/p>\n Badio let it be known he was aware of the CTU visit and he \u201ccould not\u201d support Sanon as president, according to John.<\/p>\n Badio also let it be known that he had his own candidate in mind to replace Mo\u00efse, John said. Badio told him that he had 100 members of the General Security Unit of the National Palace ready to stand down after bribing them with $1,000 each to secure the palace once Mo\u00efse lost power to ensure that his choice, Superior Court Judge Windelle Coq Th\u00e9lot,<\/a> took over the presidency without interference. Also aligned with Badio, John said: the unit\u2019s police commander, Dimitri H\u00e9rard.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter April 11, for the six-week period that you were meeting approximately twice a week [with Badio], did CTU ever come up in your discussions with Badio?\u201d Howard asked John.<\/p>\n John responded that he spoke with Badio about the company\u2019s pledge to bring investors into Haiti and provide security for the country, including training for the police and armed forces, once Sanon became president.<\/p>\n John acknowledged that Badio and his team \u2014 including Reynaldo Corvington<\/a>, whose security company\u2019s ammunition has been linked to the plot by Haitian police, and former police commissioner Gilbert Dragon<\/a>, who died in prison after his arrest in the assassination case \u2014 were trying to convince him to drop the idea of Sanon as president in favor of Coq Th\u00e9lot.<\/p>\n But despite Badio\u2019s behind-the-scenes plotting, John insisted that the former official was not the one in charge of the operation.<\/p>\n \u201cBadio was not the commander of the Colombian commandos in Haiti,\u201d John testified. \u201cJames Solages … was.\u201d<\/p>\n John, who said Moise had provided weapons to gangs and used them to terrorize the population, found his own role under scrutiny as he repeatedly tried to place blame on Solages and CTU. Intriago\u2019s lawyer noted that he was harbored by a gang leader known as Vitel\u2019homme Innocent before escaping by boat to Jamaica with one of the Colombian commandos, and he had tried to acquire weapons to oust Mo\u00efse.<\/p>\n \u201cWe acted illegally against a power that was in place illegally,\u201d John said in response to questions.<\/p>\n Multiple plans<\/p>\n During his testimony, John said there had been various schemes to \u201ccapture\u201d Mo\u00efse, among them a massive demonstration planned by Sanon.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said he was going to organize the demonstration with the Protestants and for the Protestants to go into the National Palace and kill\u201d Moise, John said about Sanon, adding that he was shocked by the endorsement of murder.<\/p>\n Weeks later, John said, Solages called him up with a new plan. This one involved drugging the president while he visited his sister\u2019s house in the Delmas 75 neighborhood of the capital and then getting him to sign a resignation letter.<\/p>\n Solages claimed that someone named Alex \u201cwas going to bring a drug, they would give the drug to the president and the president would lose all his consciousness, and then they would ask him to sign the resignation letter,\u201d John testified. John said he was asked to provide a truck to carry the corpses of the president\u2019s security detail in case any died in the plot.<\/p>\n \u201cI told them I do not have a truck, nor do I have the means to get one,\u201d John said about the early June 2021 plan.<\/p>\n That plan also went nowhere along with two others before July 7, one on June 19 and another the evening of June 26-27.<\/p>\n The government described the June 19 plan as \u201cthe first real attempt\u201d to kidnap Mo\u00efse.<\/p>\n \u201cI called CTU for the materials, I asked how much money they are going to give and at the end they couldn\u2019t give anything,\u201d John testified about the plan to \u201ccapture and exile\u201d the president when he returned from an overseas trip from Turkey on June 19, 2021. \u201cCTU promised to purchase weapons … and send them to me via a helicopter from the Dominican Republic.\u201d<\/p>\n Turning point<\/p>\n The turning point came on June 8, 2021, John said, the day after he visited Sanon at home in Port-au-Prince. He saw Sanon was being guarded by eight heavily armed men he later learned were Colombians.<\/p>\n Sanon was already acting as if he were president, John testified.<\/p>\n John went home, he said, and spent the whole night thinking about supporting Coq Th\u00e9lot. The next day, he summoned Vincent and Solages and laid out his grievances against Sanon.<\/p>\n \u201cI said you\u2019re going to have a lot of problems, a lot of protests against you and the political crisis is going to be worse than what it is now under Jovenel,\u201d John said. \u201cI told them the best choice you can make now is Judge Windelle Coq Th\u00e9lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanon wasn\u2019t open to advice and his behavior, even before taking power, indicated that \u201che would be worse than Jovenel,\u201d John said.<\/p>\n There was something else that worried him about Sanon, John testified: \u201cSanon stated that he wanted to be president of the transition for five years. And while he\u2019s president for five years, he would organize elections … and he would stay on for a total of 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n A shift in the plot<\/p>\n On the night of July 6, 2021, John arrived at Jaar\u2019s house at 7:45 p.m. Badio came an hour later, and Solages and Vincent, who has also pleaded guilty in the Miami case, arrived around 11 p.m.<\/p>\n The Colombians, John said, were in the courtyard cleaning their weapons and ammunition and Jaar was inside.<\/p>\n He watched helplessly, John testified, as the team of Colombian commandos, Solages and Vincent prepared to leave Jaar\u2019s home.<\/p>\n One Colombian climbed in behind the wheel. Another took the passenger seat. Three more jumped into the back seat before a final man squeezed in between them.<\/p>\n Before leaving, John said, Solages turned to him and asked, \u201cWhere are the people you brought to clean?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018I did not have that understanding with you tonight,\u2019 \u201d John testified. Still in shock over the switch in plans, he said, he replied: \u201cYou\u2019re going to kill Jovenel, and you\u2019re going to set his house on fire, and now you\u2019re asking for people to come and clean \u2014 to clean what?\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier that night, he said, Vincent told him the plan had changed to \u201ckill and burn\u201d the president and his wife \u2014 a stark departure from the plan to remove Mo\u00efse from power while leaving him alive.<\/p>\n \u201cI was shocked, and I said, \u2018Why kill the president?\u2019 \u201d John said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t answer.\u201d<\/p>\n Then Solages spoke. \u201cOne entry, one exit,\u201d he said, according to John.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did you take that to mean?\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean McLaughlin asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI interpreted it that they would go in, kill the president, and that would be the end of it,\u201d said John, who sometimes wept during his testimony. \u201cMy position was for Jovenel leaving power, to be exiled, not killed.\u201d<\/p>\n The night of the killing<\/p>\n After the disagreement about the plan to kill Mo\u00efse, Solages took John\u2019s vehicle and driver, leaving him briefly stranded, the former lawmaker testified.<\/p>\n As he made his way down the mountain, John said, he received a call from his driver reporting heavy gunfire at the president\u2019s residence.<\/p>\n He called Solages and urged him to leave.<\/p>\n \u201cLet me do my job,\u201d he said Solages replied.<\/p>\n In later calls, John testified, Solages told him that it appeared that the president was dead.<\/p>\n \u201cUpon learning the president is dead, where did you go?\u201d prosecutor McLaughlin asked.<\/p>\n \u201cA guesthouse,\u201d John replied. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel safe to go home because I was not expecting the president to die.\u201d<\/p>\n He said there was no contingency plan for Mo\u00efse\u2019s death and that he warned against any immediate attempt to install a successor at the National Palace.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing that James Solages asked me was to ensure that Madame Coq go to the National Palace,\u201d John said. \u201cI answered him that anyone who sets foot inside the palace\u201d would be blamed for the death of Mo\u00efse.<\/p>\n He relayed the same message, he said, when Sanon called, telling him that \u201cthe guys\u201d had asked him to head to the palace.<\/p>\n John said he also rejected requests from Solages to mobilize people in the streets in the early hours after the killing, saying he responded: \u201cUnder what authority am I going to ask the people to take to the streets?\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published April 10, 2026 at 2:03 PM.<\/p>\n