What the American accused of conspiring to assassinate the president of Haiti told the police

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) – Could a traveling pastor with a history of humanitarian work also have planned an intricate assassination plot to seize power in Haiti?

Christian Emmanuel Sanon, the latest US citizen to be arrested in connection with the assassination of the President of Haiti, has been accused by the authorities of orchestrating a complex multinational plan to realize his own political ambitions.

“He came with the intention of assuming the presidency of the Republic,” Haitian National Police Director General Leon Charles said of Sanon at a press conference on Sunday. He was also the first person called by one of the men suspected of being involved in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse after the attack, Charles said.

But Sanon has insisted on her innocence, according to a source close to the investigation who cannot be named because she is not authorized to discuss the matter.

The 63-year-old was arrested over the weekend during a police raid in a peaceful hilltop neighborhood in the capital Port-au-Prince, according to the source. The houses there are large and fenced in, and are located a stone’s throw from the residence of the acting prime minister, Claude Joseph, who currently runs the country.

Inside a sprawling complex whose doors read “International Medical Village” or international medical village, police found boxes of ammunition and holsters for rifles and pistols, the CNN source said. According to a police statement, they also found 24 unused shooting targets, a cap labeled “DEA” and four Dominican Republic license plates. Court notices attached to the property warn that it is now a sealed site amid the ongoing investigation.

Sanon told police that he had no knowledge of the attack on the president and that he did not know that the weapons and other materials seized were in the building, according to the source. He also told police that he was a Christian pastor and emphasized that the building was not his home or his property, the source said.

Police have accused Sanon of recruiting the men who allegedly killed the president. A person working nearby said he had noticed an increase in activity over the past month, describing the foreigners as “muscular like bodyguards, in camouflage pants” who frequently walked between the apparent medical complex and a house on the other side. of the street.

But when asked about the 26 Colombians and two other Haitian-Americans who are suspects in the investigation, Sanon stressed that he “knows nothing at all,” according to the source. “He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know. That’s what he said from the day the authorities interviewed him.”

Police have not announced any formal charges against Sanon and it is not yet clear whether he has hired legal representation to address the charges. CNN was unable to reach him for comment.

‘Dr. Christian Sanon: Leadership for Haiti ‘

According to police, Sanon was born in the Haitian coastal town of Marigot and returned to the Caribbean country in June, on a private plane accompanied by hired guards.

Although little is known about Sanon in the years leading up to his arrest, publicly available information indicates that he was involved in a variety of charitable endeavors.

In the early 2000s, Sanon helped run medical clinics in Haiti for the Rome Foundation, a now-closed Florida-based nonprofit that once did humanitarian work abroad.

“Dr. Sanon offers not only medicine for the body, but also medicine for the soul. Unwavering, Dr. Sanon brings the good news of Jesus Christ to those seeking real answers in a country controlled by Satan,” reads a 2004 “leadership profile” posted on an archived version of the Rome Foundation website.

Larry Chadwell, former president of the organization, told CNN in a brief interview that Sanon went to medical school in the Dominican Republic and was licensed to practice in Haiti but not in the United States. A biography of Sanon published by the Florida Baptist Historical Society says he graduated from Eugenio María de Hostos University in the Dominican Republic.

A person who worked with Sanon in the early 2000s, when he was with the foundation, told CNN that Sanon, a minister, was a compelling speaker who was responsible for attracting many donations to the organization. “He’s very eloquent, very credible,” the person said.

Sanon also spearheaded an initiative within the organization to build a hospital in the Tabarre district, according to the person and Dr. Ludner Confident, a Haitian-born doctor who helped with the organization’s fundraising.

Confident said Sanon was a “legitimate humanitarian” and “someone who was trying to help.”

“The entire organization was made up of Christian people who have a good heart to help the poor,” Confident said.

But Sanon also had bigger ideas for Haiti. Videos posted to a YouTube account under the name “Dr. Christian Sanon” in August 2011 show Sanon saying that the country needs “new, life-changing leadership” in the country.

The video, titled “Dr. Christian Sanon: Leadership for Haiti”, also showed Sanon describing the country’s leadership as corrupt and appeared to criticize then-President Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly as “weak” and someone who is “selling his soul. “.

The investigation continues

With Sanon in custody, there are now three US citizens allegedly linked to the attack. James Solages and Joseph Vincent, both naturalized US citizens from Haiti, were arrested last week.

Haitian police are pursuing 10 new local suspects, according to a Haitian government source. In all, at least 39 people have been implicated in the murder so far.

The official Twitter account of the Haitian National Police (PNH) identified three of those suspects on Tuesday: Joseph Felix Badio, former Senator John Joel Joseph and Rodolphe Jaar (also known as Dodof). Each is suspected of murder, attempted murder and armed robbery, according to police notices, and police described them as “armed and dangerous.”

Several suspects also worked as informants for US law enforcement, according to people briefed on the matter.

At least one of the men arrested in connection with the killing by Haitian authorities previously worked as an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA said in a statement responding to CNN.

The DEA said it is aware of reports that some of the attackers shouted “DEA” at the time of their action. The DEA said in its statement that none of the attackers were operating on behalf of the agency.

Other suspects also had ties to the United States, including having worked as informants for the FBI, people briefed on the matter said. The FBI said in response to the CNN reports that it does not comment on the whistleblowers except to say that it uses “legal sources to gather intelligence” as part of its investigations.

The United States has dispatched high-level agents from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to assist in the investigation, and State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday that Washington is still evaluating requests for assistance from the Haitian government, which has asked for troops to help protect key infrastructure in a country with rampant criminal violence.

“We are evaluating how we can best support the needs of the Haitian government at this time. As I said, at this time much of that is focused on the ongoing investigation into the assassination of President Moïse,” he said. “In addition to the interagency team, the FBI and DHS have also been involved on the ground to determine investigative assets and investigative support that Haiti may need in this investigation.”

When asked about the request for security assistance, Price said that “we know that in this case there may be protection needs in the context of critical infrastructure.”

“We are also looking at that closely,” he said Tuesday.

Report contributed by Natalie Gallon and Matt Rivers of CNN in Port-au-Prince, Mitchell McCluskey in Atlanta and Evan Perez, Jennifer Hansler and Jasmine Wright in Washington.