Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 25 april 2017

Haiti leader pleads guilty to money laundering in drug case

vember but was arrested exchange for ensuring safe
while giving a live radio passage for cocaine ship-
interview in the capital of ments from Colombia and
Port-au-Prince in January other countries that went
and whisked immediately through Haiti on their way
to the U.S. Altonaga reject- to Miami and other U.S.
ed his claim of immunity as destinations.
an elected Haitian official. “Philippe cast aside his
The judge noted even if duty to protect and serve
immunity applied, Philippe the people of Haiti,” said
had not yet been officially Acting U.S. Attorney Benja-
sworn in. min Greenberg. “Instead,
There was no immediate he abused his position of
comment about the guilty authority as a high-ranking
plea from the many mem- Haitian National Police offi-
bers of Haiti’s parliament cer to safeguard drug ship-
who questioned the legal- ments and launder illicit
ity of swiftly flying Philippe trafficking proceeds.”
to Florida on the same day Philippe attorney Zeljka
of his arrest in the capital’s Bozanic said taking the
Petionville district. potential life sentence off
The remote, mountainous the table was the key to
town of southwest Haiti the plea agreement, espe-
where Philippe ran a virtual cially considering there are
In this 2016 photo, Guy Philippe laughs during an interview in Pestel, Haiti. Philippe pleaded guilty
Monday to a U.S. drug money-laundering charge under a deal that should allow him to avoid a fiefdom was also quiet on few witnesses and docu-
potential sentence of life in prison for cocaine trafficking. Monday, local residents ments available to mount
(AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) said. The town of Pestel was a credible defense.
one of many communities “We’re happy that’s going
CURT ANDERSON nine years and the drug tian uprising that ousted on Haiti’s remote southern to be the result,” she said.
Associated Press trafficking charge would then-President Jean-Ber- peninsula struggling with “Hopefully he’ll still be a rel-
MIAMI (AP) — A former be dropped. He also faces trand Aristide and was in- flooding following heavy atively young person walk-
Haitian coup leader and a $1.5 million fine at a sen- dicted along with several rain. ing out of there.”
recently elected senator in tencing hearing July 5. others on U.S. drug charges Philippe admitted Mon- About $376,000 of the illicit
that country pleaded guilty “You understand I am un- in 2005. He managed to day in court that, as a cash was wired to a Miami
Monday to a U.S. drug der no obligation to impose elude capture for more high-ranking Haitian po- bank account from Haiti
money-laundering charge that sentence?” asked U.S. than a decade, includ- lice commander in the and Ecuador and used
under a deal that should District Judge Cecilia M. ing at least 10 attempts to city of Cap-Haitien, he ac- by Philippe to purchase a
allow him to avoid a poten- Altonaga, noting that the arrest him in Haiti that in- cepted between $1.5 mil- house in the Fort Lauder-
tial sentence of life in prison maximum potential sen- volved a military operation lion and $3.5 million from dale area, according to
for cocaine trafficking. tence is 20 years. and a foot chase through drug smugglers from 1999
Under the plea deal, the “Yes, your honor,” said the countryside. to 2003. Prosecutors say court documents.
recommended prison sen- Philippe. Philippe was elected to Philippe and other police There was a series of pro-
tence for Guy Philippe is Philippe, 49, led a 2004 Hai- the Haitian Senate in No- officers took the money in tests in Haiti when Philippe
was arrested in January,
Paraguay: with some supporters call-
ing it an illegal kidnapping.
Armed robbers use explosives to break into vault Several dozen people
demonstrated outside the
ASUNCION, Paraguay of gunfire and torched ve- snipers to guarantee the drugs and arms flow across Miami courthouse at one
(AP) — Dozens of attack- hicles during the three-hour escape and torched more porous borders. of his earlier appearanc-
ers armed with assault rifles attack on the Prosegur than 10 vehicles to distract Authorities said Brazilian es, but there was no such
used explosives to blast company in the border city the police,” he said. gangsters were suspected show of support Monday.
open the vault of an ar- of Ciudad del Este. Video footage showed of being behind the attack “It is important that Philippe
mored car company early Authorities did not release burned armored cars out- on the armed car compa- accepted responsibil-
Monday and apparently any information on how side the crumbling remains ny. ity for his criminal offenses
escaped by boat into Bra- much money was stolen. of the company’s building. Regional police spokes- against the United States
zil with a haul of cash, au- Up to 80 people may have Ciudad del Este sits in the man Anibal Lima said Brazil- and the people of Haiti,”
thorities said. Officials said been involved in the at- “Triple Border” region, ian police found AK-47 as- said Adolphus Wright, chief
at least one police officer tack, said Arsenio Correa, where Paraguay, Brazil and sault rifles inside two aban- of the Drug Enforcement
was killed and three civil- investigations chief in the Argentina meet and where doned boats in the area’s Administration’s Miami
ians were injured in a blaze city. “The criminals used contraband electronics, Itaipu lake.q office.q