As more information trickles out on the assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moise, there are details that point to the issue of narcotics trafficking in South Florida and issues surrounding how the cartels use Haiti as a shipping and transportation transfer hub. That old investigative phrase of "follow the money," and who benefits from the death of Moise, will eventually reveal who did this and why. However, there are significant details available today that answer some of these questions while creating additional ones.
It is reasonable to believe the United States government knows exactly what happened in Haiti, who is behind the killing of Moise and why he was killed. There is a large Drug Enforcement Administration operational capability in Haiti, and they have been there for many years. One of the Haitian Americans arrested is believed to be a DEA source having reportedly worked with DEA agents on major cases. That links the DEA and the Department of Justice directly to the assassination of Moise, according to some reports.
Like it or not, the U.S. government is tied into this killing and its aftermath. If not directly, they certainly know why Moise was killed. It could be that some of their very informants were involved, and we know for a fact that the government keeps close eyes on informants. The DEA has a record of sloppiness running confidential narcotics sources, and let us not forget about the various issues -- including corruption -- during the various sting operations south of the border in the 1980s and early '90s. Why is the U.S. government noticeably silent on this assassination? It certainly does bring them further into the spotlight and raises several serious questions about what they do and don't know.
We can ask the attorney general and the director of the DEA if the U.S. government had advance warning about the assassination plan against Moise. If so, why wasn't it prevented? These are all crucial details that the public has a right to know. With the revelation that one of the arrested suspects -- a Haitian and American citizen -- is or was a DEA source, it's reasonable to believe that the DEA must have gotten some details of this planned event before it occurred, since it was a complex, well-planned and successful operation. The DEA and the U.S. intelligence apparatus has a law that must be followed called the "Duty to Warn." Was Moise warned? If so, by what department?
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This story should grow legs. A head of state has been assassinated in our backyard, and the DOJ, DEA and FBI either knew about it in advance and said nothing, or really didn't detect the threat and are guilty of malfeasance, misfeasance or incompetence. Any of these outcomes is bad. Some hard questioning will bring the facts of this case into the light. The president of Haiti was tortured and brutally murdered in his home. As a head of state, penetrating his home and bedroom to torture and murder him is almost unheard of. Where were the inner circle, outer circle and perimeter security components? How were all three successfully penetrated? The success of the operational plan to murder him would indicate considerable skill and pre-planning. The brutality of his torture and murder presents questions. A clear signal has been sent. Who was this signal for?
As the details continue to surface on the background of the captured assassins, the links to U.S. law enforcement and its regional counternarcotics programs are coming into view. So is the breadth and depth of the political corruption of Moise's administration. The billions of U.S. tax dollars poured into Haiti over the previous four U.S. administrations are breathtaking. For example: The U.S. government provided funding to conduct a fuel pier refurbishment study that captures the scale of theft in plain sight. A study of pier suitability was tendered by the U.S. government, and $4.5 million was paid for it. The study never occurred because the pier was impossible to recondition. It was a total waste of time and money. The study was commissioned; the pier was declared unsuitable; and a memo saying so was produced. The $4.5 million disappeared, and the issue was closed out on the official books. Case closed.
Ask the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI and the DEA for a report on the origins and ownership of all the weapons recovered from the assassins.
This mess is just the latest example of the disorganized, uncontrollable and unaccountable U.S. government law enforcement and intelligence apparatus. The FBI and the DEA "running sources, CI's, assets, cases, informants" is amateurish and dangerous. I would expect to learn soon that the CIA and military intelligence also have links to some of these operatives from Columbia or some other counternarcotics program. This latest flop will be very difficult to sweep under the rug. When a head of state is killed, global news and questions are going to keep coming.
The Haitian logistics hub for the trafficking of narcotics and human beings continues forward without Moise.
To find out more about Armstrong Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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