The Justice Department has arrested four Florida men accused of plotting to kill Haiti’s president Jovenel Moise.
Archangel Pretel Ortiz, 50 years old; Antonio Intriago 59; Walter Veintemilla, 54; and Frederick Bergmann, 64, were arrested Tuesday in connection with their “participation” in the events leading up to Moise’s assassination on July 7, 2021. Pretel is a Colombian citizen and a US permanent resident of Miami, Intriago is a Venezuelan citizen and a resident US permanent in Miami, Veintemilla is a resident of Weston, Florida and Bergmann is a resident of Tampa, Florida.
Moise was assassinated on July 7, 2021 in his private home and was shot a dozen times, with his office and bedroom ransacked, according to the Hatian newspaper Le Nouvelliste.
Ortiz, Intriago and Veintemilla are charged with “conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a conspiracy to kidnap or kill outside the United States, resulting in death; providing material support and resources to a conspiracy to kidnap or kill outside the United States of the United States, resulting in death; and conspiracy to kill or abduct a person outside the United States,” according to the Justice Department.
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FILE – In this Feb. 7, 2020 file photo, Haiti President Jovenel Moise speaks during an interview at his home in Petion-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Sources say Moise was assassinated at home, the first lady hospitalized due to political instability. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery, File)
Bergmann is charged with “conspiracy to commit export violations; submitting false and misleading export information; and smuggling ballistic vests from the United States to Haiti.”
According to the DOJ, South Florida served as a “central location” to “plan and finance the plot to oust President Moïse from power and replace him with someone who would serve the political goals and financial interests of the conspirators.”
Officials say Ortiz and Intriago are deans of the Federal Academy’s Counterterrorism Unit and Security’s Counterterrorism Unit, and Veintemilla is a dean of the Worldwide Capital Lending Group, all of which are based in South Florida.
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Haitian President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in a raid on his home by a group of unidentified people in the capital Port-Au-Prince. (Alejandro Cegarra/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
11 people are now charged in the Southern District of Florida in connection with the assassination.
The Justice Department is accusing Veintemilla and his company of agreeing to finance the plot and sending a $175,000 credit line to the Federal Academy’s Counterterrorism Unit and also sending money to people in Haiti that was used to purchase ammunition.
Officials say the men met at a house near Moise’s residence on July 6, 2021, where firearms and other equipment were distributed, and Moise was assassinated a day later.
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Jovenel Moise is helped by a team member before an interview in his office in Petion-Ville, Haiti on Tuesday November 29, 2016. (The Associated Press)
Ortiz, Intriago and Veintemilla face life in prison for their roles in the assassination, and Bergmann faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
