Haiti police make new arrest in assassination of President Jovenel Moïse
The driver of a former senator and key suspect in the assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moïse has been arrested by Haitian police.
Mozart Prevot was arrested in Delmas in the capital on Tuesday, according to a release by the Haiti National Police’s Criminal Affairs Office, and is currently in police custody. Prevot worked for John Joël Joseph, a former lawmaker in Haiti’s Parliament who is currently awaiting trial in Miami in connection to the president’s brutal July 7, 2021, killing.
During a search of Prevot’s home, police found a 9mm pistol and a magazine with 12 cartridges. His arrest comes just days after several FBI agents visited Haiti, questioned four jailed Colombian suspects and visited the residence where Moïse was shot and his wife was seriously injured.
The agents were accompanied by Haiti Investigative Judge Walther Wesser Voltaire, who has given a directive to Haitian police to continue with the investigation and who in recent days has issued invitations to hear from others as he seeks to bring formal charges to the more than 40 people who have been detained in the killing.
READ MORE: A who’s who in Haiti president’s killing and how they’re interconnected
Prevot is described by Haitian police as being “a former henchman” of former Sen. Joseph. Joseph admitted to FBI agents that he met with some of the co-conspirators just before they “embarked on the mission to kill President Moïse,” according to an affidavit filed with his criminal complaint. He also admitted in the interview that he helped obtain vehicles and tried to get firearms for the co-conspirators’ “operation” targeting Haiti’s leader.
Joseph, who also goes by the name Joseph Joël John, wanted to become prime minister upon Moïse’s death, according to a U.S. criminal complaint. He was extradited to the U.S. from Jamaica last May and is among 11 suspects being held in federal detention.
Recently, one of those suspects, Rodolphe Jaar, 50, pleaded guilty in Miami federal court. A businessman and convicted drug trafficker, Jaar is currently cooperating with the FBI about how he provided housing, weapons and food to ex-Colombian soldiers who stormed the president’s residence in the middle of the night. Jaar has also admitted to soliciting funds to have Moïse’s security stand down on the night of the killing.
This story was originally published April 13, 2023 at 8:13 PM.
