March 10th, 2026 - Haiti President’s Widow Delivers Emotional Testimony in Trial Over Brutal Assassination

Nearly five years after the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, his widow, Martine Moïse, took the stand Tuesday in a U.S. federal courtroom in Miami to testify about the night armed attackers stormed their home. Fighting back tears, she apologized as she struggled to recount the traumatic events, saying she had promised her late husband she would remain strong.

Martine Moïse described waking in the early hours of July 7, 2021, to the sound of gunfire echoing through the presidential residence. Looking over at her husband, she said she saw shock in his eyes as the violence unfolded. When she asked what was happening, she recalled him responding with chilling words: “Honey, we are dead.”

According to prosecutors, President Moïse was killed shortly before 2 a.m. when heavily armed attackers broke into the residence and shot him at close range. The killing, which plunged Haiti deeper into political chaos, is alleged to have been the result of a monthslong conspiracy involving a Miami-area security firm known as Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy, or CTU.

Four defendants currently on trial in the United States are accused of helping organize the plot to kill or kidnap the president. Those charged include CTU co-owners Antonio Intriago, a Venezuelan American, and Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, a Colombian national, along with James Solages, a Haitian American employee of the firm, and Walter Veintemilla, an Ecuadorian American financier who allegedly helped fund the operation.

Prosecutors argue that the group hoped to overthrow the Haitian president in a violent coup that would open the door to lucrative security contracts under a new government. They say the defendants communicated through coded messages, sometimes referring to Moïse with nicknames while coordinating their plan. Investigators also say members of the group posed as U.S. officials and wore fake American military uniforms during the operation.

The assassination involved a larger team of around 20 former Colombian soldiers, most of whom remain imprisoned in Haiti awaiting trial. Several other suspects connected to the conspiracy have already pleaded guilty in U.S. courts and received lengthy prison sentences.

Martine Moïse’s testimony marks one of the most detailed public accounts of the attack since it occurred in 2021. She described being seriously wounded during the assault and later discovering her husband hiding beside their bed moments before the gunmen entered the room; a memory that continues to haunt Haiti as the trial attempts to uncover the full truth behind the shocking assassination.

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster) - Mea Culpa (noun, may-uh-KOOL-puh) - The noun mea culpa is used for a formal acknowledgment of personal fault or error.

Example: The podcast host's mea culpa did little to satisfy those who found the episode deeply offensive.

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