https://theintercept.com/2019/03/20/haiti-president-mercenary-operation/
U.S. MERCENARIES ARRESTED IN HAITI WERE PART OF A HALF-BAKED SCHEME TO MOVE $80 MILLION FOR EMBATTLED PRESIDENT
Matthew Cole, Kim Ives
March 20 2019, 7:00 a.m

From 2008 to 2017, Venezuela provided Haiti with about $4.3 billion in cheap oil under the Petrocaribe Accord, which Venezuela signed with Haiti and 16 other Caribbean and Central American countries. Haiti had a particularly favorable deal: Forty percent of the money owed to Venezuela was repayable over 25 years at an annual interest rate of 1 percent. In the meantime, Haiti was free to pump its revenue from that oil into the Petrocaribe fund. The fund was supposed to support hospitals, clinics, schools, roads, and other social projects, and helped prop up the Haitian government after the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
But Trump administration sanctions on Venezuela and financial mismanagement by the Haitian government led the Haitian central bank to halt payments to Venezuela, and the Petrocaribe agreement effectively ended in early 2018. A Haitian Senate investigation found that the fund’s nearly $2 billion had been largely misappropriated, embezzled, and stolen, primarily under Haitian President Michel Martelly’s leadership between 2011 and 2016.

Moïse came to power in 2017, after the Port-au-Prince district attorney accused him of money laundering. The corruption allegations, combined with the end of cheap Venezuelan oil and credit, created a perfect storm of popular outrage. In recent months, Moïse and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Henry Céant have been vying for power, and Moïse’s decision to back the Trump administration’s recent efforts to undermine Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro set off a new round of popular street protests in Haiti, with protesters calling for Moïse to step down. Under the Haitian constitution, that would have made Céant the country’s leader.

The Americans were told that the Petrocaribe fund is controlled by Moïse, Céant, and the central bank’s president, Jean Baden Dubois. Because of the widening political rift between the president and the prime minister, that arrangement left the $80 million effectively frozen, according to the person with direct knowledge of the operation.

Leconte and Jean-Louis told the Americans that by moving the money into an account Céant and Dubois could not access, Moïse could more effectively lead the country, hence the promise that they would be supporting Haiti’s democracy. The fund was the government’s only significant economic instrument, and the move would secure Moïse’s position and freeze out his prime minister. It is unclear what Moïse intended to do with the money once he gained control of it.

Leconte paid the Americans for the operation, according to the source with direct knowledge. Leconte and his business partner, Gesner Champagne, who also met the Americans at the airport in Port-au-Prince, were acting as cutouts, giving Moïse plausible deniability, the Americans were told.

In return for helping Moïse, the president promised Leconte and Champagne that he would give a nationwide telecom contract to Preble-Rish Haiti, the engineering and construction company Leconte and Champagne run together, Jean-Louis and Leconte told the Americans.
America has imported more warlord theocracy from Afghanistan than it has exported democracy.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/434832-trump-to-meet-with-caribbean-leaders-at-mar-a-lago

President Trump is slated to meet with the leaders of several Caribbean countries later this week at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the White House announced.

Trump will gather with the leaders of the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Saint Lucia on Friday to reaffirm the White House’s “strong friendship with and commitment to these countries, and signal the importance of the Caribbean to the hemisphere,” the White House said in a statement.

“The President will discuss his vision for our diverse relationships in the Caribbean and the potential opportunities for energy investment,” the White House added, noting that the leaders will also discuss Chinese economic practices in the region and the current Venezuelan leadership crisis.


Trump sparked bipartisan backlash early last year after he reportedly referred to immigrants from Haiti and African nations as coming from “shithole countries.” He also reportedly suggested that the U.S. should welcome immigrants from countries like Norway.

“Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said ‘take them out.’ Made up by Dems," Trump tweeted in response to a report about his comments at the time. "I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings - unfortunately, no trust!”


Trump has previously held high-profile negotiations at his Florida resort since becoming president. He hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping to negotiate the trade relationship between Washington and Beijing and hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss commerce and defense interests in 2017.
America has imported more warlord theocracy from Afghanistan than it has exported democracy.

legit military since Poppa Doc.


Anti-gentrification, cheap alcohol & trying to look pretty in our twilight posting years (c) Big Reg
http://Tupreme.com

and he was so new that half the ppl didn't know his name.
I never got how countries with presidents and prime ministers are supposed to share power.
Then African countries have tribal chiefs on top of that.

This story definitely seems to be mostly the American mercenary whitewashing&plausible deniability version of events

Dude said he needs 6 extras from the set of the Expendables to go make a wire transfer? What was supposed to happen, they wave the guns and everybody lets them thru? Smh. Good job on the bank and police chief for holding them and not buying the bs. And how does putting 80M in your personal acct help democracy? Smh

Also crazy -
- that It took 10 years to uncover corruption/ theft from martelly, who was a goofball singer selected to be puppet president. Like electing wyclef (who also stole/ Got accused for stealing Haitian donation money) and not keeping an eye on him
- that no politicians ever get arrested, nor these fake A-team mercenaries wit illegal guns
- after all that, they vote to remove the prime minister and not the president??
-there has to be enough Haitians in US, Canada, UK to just buy 30% of the island, eliminate the crime and corruption in that pocket, and expand from there. No reason for Haiti and almost all Caribbean to be that poor, expert corruption from inside and outside
-fuuuuuk france

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bunda
<-.-> ^_^ \^0^/
get busy living, or get busy dying.