Florida physician arrested within the assassination of the President of Haiti

July 13, 2021

A Haiti-born doctor who had lived in Florida for more than two decades was arrested as a key suspect in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Mo arrestedse, according to The New York Times.

About two dozen people were arrested as suspects, the newspaper reported, although police believe Christian Emmanuel Sanon, 63, was planning to become president.

“He arrived in June on a private plane with political objectives and contacted a private security company to recruit the people who had committed the crime,” said Léon Charles, the national police chief of Haiti, during a press conference on Sunday.

The company called CTU Security is a Venezuelan company based in Miami, Charles said. During a raid on Sanon’s house in Port-au-Prince, police found six rifles, 20 boxes of bullets, 24 unused targets, holsters and a hat with the US Drug Enforcement Agency logo.

“This initial mission assigned to these attackers was to protect the person named Emmanuel Sanon, but after that the mission changed,” said Charles.

The new “mission” was to arrest Moïse and install Sanon as president, the New York Times reported, although Charles did not explain when the mission turned into an assassination attempt or how Sanon could have taken control of the government.

Moïse was shot dead by a “commando team” at his home in Port-au-Prince on July 7, according to the Washington Post. Haiti on Friday called on the US to send troops to the country to protect its airport and important infrastructure.

The announcement of Sanon’s arrest came hours after FBI and Homeland Security officials arrived in Haiti on Sunday to discuss how the US can offer aid, the newspaper reported.

Sanon has a YouTube channel, according to Forbes, with three political campaign videos from 2011 that feature discussions about Haitian politics. In one of the videos titled “Dr. Christian Sanon – Leadership for Haiti “speaks to Sanon about the corruption in the country and presents himself as a potential leader.

According to the Miami Herald, Sanon lived in Florida for more than 20 years, from the Tampa Bay area to South Florida. Public records indicate that he had more than a dozen companies registered in the state, including medical services and real estate, though most are inactive.