Haitian doctor with ties to Florida arrested as alleged leader of Moise assassination

A Haitian doctor with reported ties to Florida has been arrested in connection with the assassination of President Jovenel Moise last week.

Christian Emmanuel Sanon is the third person arrested on Sunday in connection with the killing who reportedly had ties to the United States. Authorities have said he was one of the masterminds behind the plan and that he wanted to assume the presidency, according to the Washington Post.

Haiti National Police Chief Leon Charles said multiple suspects already in custody mentioned Sanon, according to the Miami Herald.

Sanon “made contact with two other people who are implicated, they know who they are, and are recognized as intellectual authors of the assassination of President Jovenel Moise’,” Charles said.

When Sanon was arrested, authorities found a cache of weapons and ammunition that included six rifles, 9mm guns, 20 cartridges of bullets, and four license plates for the Dominican Republic.

Before the assassination, he reportedly spent the last two decades living on and off in Florida, per the Miami Herald, and had registered more than a dozen businesses in the state, though most are inactive.

There is no record of him obtaining a medical license in Florida, though court records refer to him as a doctor who worked in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

An interagency group of U.S. officials traveled to Haiti on Sunday following the island’s request for a military presence to stabilize the country, National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne revealed in a Monday statement. The group was made up officials from the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, State, and National Security Council, and during their visit, the officials met with officials from the Haitian National Police, acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph, Prime Minister-Designate Ariel Henry, and Senate President Joseph Lambert.