By Steve Neavling
A former DEA informant is a suspect in last week’s assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, the agency said.
Joseph Gertland Vincent, 55, who was one of two Haitian-American men charged in the fatal attack, became an occasional DEA informant after he was arrested more than 20 years ago for filing false information on a U.S. passport application, The Miami Herald reports.
Another 26 Columbians also were charged in the attack.
The DEA declined to confirm which of the two Americans arrested was the confidential informant.
“At times, one of the suspects in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was a confidential source to the DEA,” one DEA official said. “Following the assassination of President Moïse, the suspect reached out to his contacts at the DEA.
“A DEA official assigned to Haiti urged the suspect to surrender to local authorities and, along with a U.S. State Department colleague, shared information with the Haitian government that assisted in the surrender and arrest of the suspect and one other individual.”
During the attack, one of the suspects shouted that they were executing a DEA raid.
“DEA is aware of reports that President Moïse’s assassins yelled ‘DEA’ at the time of their attack. These individuals were not acting on behalf of DEA,” said the source.
Senior officials with the FBI and Homeland Security arrived in Haiti this week to lend a hand to the island nation.
