A Haitian man living in Florida has been arrested as a key suspect in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. The man is believed to have worked with the masterminds and assassins behind Moïse's murder.
According to Haiti's police chief, Léon Charles, the man has been identified as Christian Emmanuel Sanon. The chief did not, however, release any information about the leader(s) of the assassination effort, the Associated Press reports.
Charles noted that officers found several items at Sanon's house in Haiti, including a hat featuring the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration logo, nearly two dozen boxes of bullets, a handful of gun parts, four Dominican Republic license plates, two vehicles and written exchanges with unidentified people.
"We continue to make strides," Charles said of the investigating into Moïse's assassination. As Christian Headlines previously reported, Moïse was killed in his home last Wednesday in the early morning hours.
The president's wife, Martine Moïse, was critically injured during the attack and is currently being hospitalized in Miami.
According to records, Sanon, who filed for bankruptcy in 2013, has lived in Broward and Hillsborough Counties on the Florida Gulf Coast. He also reportedly lived in Kansas City, Missouri.
Sanon has long shown interest in Haitian politics. In a 2010 post on Twitter, Sanon wrote, "Just completed a successful conference in Port-Au-Prince. Many people from the opposition attended."
In another post a month later, he wrote: "Back to Haiti for an important meeting regarding the election. Pray for me for protection and wisdom."
Sanon also posted a video titled "Leadership for Haiti" to YouTube. In the video, he denounces Haiti's government, calling it corrupt. He also accuses leaders of stripping the country of its resources and argues that "they don't care about the country, they don't care about the people."
He further claimed that Haiti has uranium, oil and other resources that government officials have taken.
"This is a country with resources," he said. "Nine million people can't be in poverty when we have so much (sic) resources in the country. It's impossible. ... The world has to stop doing what they are doing right now. We can't take it anymore. We need new leadership that will change the way of life."
According to Charles, Sanon was in contact with a security firm that worked for politicians. He also allegedly recruited the suspects. Charles also noted that Sanon flew into Haiti with several alleged suspects on a private jet in June. Their initial objective was to protect Sanon until they received a new order to arrest Moïse.
So far, police suspect 26 Colombians were involved in Moïse's assassination. Eighteen of them, along with three Haitians, have been arrested. Five suspects are still believed to be at large, and at least three have been killed.
"They are dangerous individuals," Charles said. "I'm talking commando, specialized commando."
Police are reportedly working with high-ranking Colombian officials to further flesh out details surrounding Moïse’s assassination.
At present, interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph is leading Haiti with the help of the police and military.
As reported by Fox News, Haiti, a country with a population of over 11 million people, only has 10 elected officials after it failed to hold parliamentary elections. Moïse had been ruling the country by decree for more than a year up until his death.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/John Moore/Staff
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
