Germán Alejandro Rivera García (45), a retired Colombian army officer turned mercenary, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7, 2021 at the age 53, in his private residence https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34162-haiti-flash-president-jovenel-moise-assassinated-by-mercenaries-official-updated-7am-+-video.html

Rivera, also known as "Colonel Mike",; pleaded guilty in September 2022 to conspiracy and supporting a plot to assassinate the President of Haiti. According to court documents, he was part of a convoy heading to Moïse's residence on the day of the killing, after relaying information that the plan was no longer to kidnap the President but rather to kill him.

According to the charges, Rivera, Jaar, Joseph and others, including approximately 20 Colombian citizens and several Haitian-American citizens, participated in the plot. The conspirators initially planned to kidnap the Haitian President, then changed their plan to kill him.

Rivera hoped to get a lighter sentence after signing a cooperation agreement with U.S. authorities. Federal judge José E Martínez pronounced the sentence on Friday October 27, 2023 during a hearing lasting less than 30 minutes in Miami.

This conviction is in addition to that of Haitian-Chilean businessman Rodolphe Jaar, also sentenced to life in prison in June for his role in the assassination of Moïse. Former Haitian Senator John Joel Joseph https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40706-haiti-flash-former-senator-john-pleads-guilty-to-participation-in-the-assassination-of-jovenel-moise.html should receive his sentence in December. 8 other defendants await trial in 2024 in the United States.

Meanwhile, more than 40 suspects in this case remain in preventive detention in Haiti more than two years after the assassination while the new investigating judge increases his interrogations. Among those arrested after the killing were 18 former Colombian soldiers. No conviction has been handed down in Haiti in this case so far...

SL/ HaitiLibre