Our Boss Will Call Your Boss

That evening, the Haitian minister of justice personally intervened for the contractors’ release, according to local reports, independently confirmed. One of the Haitian president’s advisors also made a call. Fritz Jean-Louis, who has reportedly fled the country, told police it was part of a Central Bank security assessment. The bank denied any involvement. The contractors remained detained.

Nobody took responsibility for bringing these contractors to Haiti. The US Embassy provided consular services, but denied any knowledge of the group’s purpose in the country.

On the afternoon of February 20, after nearly three days of nonstop speculation in the local and international press that seemed to raise more questions than answers, the group was quietly released into US custody. That night, video emerged of the group as US embassy personnel escorted them through the American Airlines ticket counter. None appeared to be in handcuffs.

They flew commercial in a mostly empty plane to Miami where they were met by US law enforcement, though it remains unclear from what federal agency. The next day, citing federal sources, the Miami Herald reported the contractors would not face charges. The Haitian president and prime minister both denied any knowledge of the situation. The US government has not made any public remarks on the case.

The only public explanation provided by any of those involved came in the form of an Instagram post (since deleted) by one of the returned Americans. He claimed that “people who are directly connected to the current [Haitian] president” had hired them “to do security work.” But weeks later, much of what happened during the roughly 36 hours before the group was detained remains shrouded in secrecy.

Though significant details are still unknown, the following account — based on existing reports, interviews with sources close to the situation, government documents, flight and other records relating to the case — raises significant questions for authorities in both Haiti and the United States.

Why was the group driving in unmarked cars, with unregistered weapons, and without immigration stamps in their passports? What had they been hired to do? And on whose behalf? Are there other contractors still in Haiti? What did Central Bank officials know, and when did they know it? Was the bank the target of the mission, or just the site of its downfall? And who is covering the whole affair up? Why did the US government break with widely respected diplomatic procedures and international laws? Why are they not facing any charges in Haiti or the US? And what does the whole case have to do with the ongoing political crisis, and with the US role in Haiti today?

In the following report, Haiti: Relief and Reconstruction Watch (HRRW) will provide the most complete account of the contractors’ detention, what they had done in Haiti before their detention, and the political and diplomatic discussions that surrounded the event. Over the course of just a few days, the case took on political significance much greater than the detention and release of the contractors. The chain of events initiated by the detention revealed the weakness of the nation’s justice system and the precariousness of the current Haitian administration; it exposed the close ties between criminal networks and the ruling party; and casts doubt on the idea that this was a simple security operation gone wrong.

Despite the sensitivity of the case, the identities of those detained were widely known within hours: Dustin Porte, Talon Burton, Christopher Osman, Kent Kroeker, Chris Mark McKinley, Danilo Bajagic, Vlade Jankovic, and Michael Estera.

Two are former navy SEALs, one a former marine. Another worked as diplomatic security in Afghanistan. Outside of Estera, the Haitian national, six of the seven detained have public links to private security companies in the US, from Maryland to Southern California. In Haiti, they’ve simply become “the Mercenaires.”

On February 22, Christopher Osman posted a picture with his wife on Instagram. The message accompanying that post has been the only public comment from any of the contractors involved. The post has since been deleted. At least two companies have publicly denied any role in the operation.

“Sometimes life is stranger than fiction and filled with crazy adventures,” Osman wrote, “Its [sic] now known that I do security work and have done it for years.” He claimed that’s what the team had been doing in Haiti — and “people who are directly connected to the current President” had hired them. Osman blamed a political fight between the president and prime minister for the ordeal, and thanked the US government, specifically the ambassador, for their “rescue.”

Relatively little is known about those detained, or why such a disparate group was brought together. But, it turns out, for some of those detained, this wasn’t their first trip to Haiti. At least one had been brought to Haiti by a wealthy businessman just seven months earlier, at the onset of Haiti’s current political crisis.

In early July, the government announced that fuel prices would increase by up to 50 percent. It was running out of money, and the measure was part of a list of reforms needed to secure an International Monetary Fund rescue package.

Protests, some of which targeted private businesses, erupted across Port-au-Prince and continued even after the government rescinded the decree. The airport was closed. Among the businesses damaged in the protests were the Best Western hotel and MSC Trading. Both are owned by one of Haiti’s most well-known elite families, the Handals.

After the unrest, Chris Handal, a co-owner of the hotel and MSC, brought in foreign security contractors to assess the situation. According to private sector sources, that group included Kent Kroeker. Handal declined to comment for this report.

The presence of foreign security contractors in Haiti is nothing new. During times of unrest, businessmen have often brought in such teams. The Steele Foundation was on a “State Department-approved” security contract with the Haitian government for years. In 2004, Steele agents were present as former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide faced an internal revolt, including from within his own security forces, and was flown out of the country — against his will, he later claimed — on a leased plane that had been used by the United States for extraordinary renditions.

But if the contractors were simply in Haiti to provide routine security assessment or protection, it is their connections and actions in Haiti that raise significant questions about the nature of their mission.

After seven of those detained were returned to the US, only Michael Estera, the Haitian national, remained in jail. When it was reported the Americans wouldn’t face charges, Hans Joseph, a lawyer representing Estera, released a statement, noting that Estera had worked for a local civil engineering company, Preble-Rish Haiti, and demanding his release.

Soon after, Preble-Rish Haiti deleted its “About Us” page from its website. An archived version, however, revealed two key names: Josue Leconte and Gesner Champagne. The latter was arrested in 1996 on arms trafficking charges in the United States. They were the same two local businessmen who allegedly met the plane from Baltimore at the airport the morning before the arrest.

I met with Hans Joseph, Estera’s lawyer, in a sparsely decorated office in the Delmas 41 neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. Joseph denied Preble-Rish had any role in hiring him, and claimed that Estera would not even disclose to his lawyers who specifically his boss was.

“His life is in danger,” Joseph told me with some urgency. Estera was just a driver and translator working for a local businessman, the lawyer told me. “One of the best around,” he added.

During their one night of freedom in Haiti, Estera dropped at least some of the contractors off at the Hôtel Montana, according to the lawyer. Estera has since been released from jail. He has remained silent. Who were these businessmen that Estera was working for?

Since the return of the detained contractors, the US government has made no public remarks about the case. On Friday, February 22, the State Department held an informal telephone briefing for members of Congress and staff interested in the case. In response to questions about details concerning the Americans or what the group was doing in Haiti, the official on the call apparently provided no specifics. But those questions are unlikely to stop.

On February 6, Haitian foreign minister Bocchit Edmond tweeted a picture after meeting with US Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), who has become a “shadow secretary of state” for the Western Hemisphere under the Trump administration. The next day marked the two-year anniversary of Jovenel Moïse’s inauguration as president, and was the beginning of the street actions that would lock the country down for the next 10 days.

On February 9, a delegation from Haiti’s central bank and ministry of finance arrived in Washington, DC. Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond was also in DC, and accompanying him were two individuals: Charles Jean-Jacques, a government official in charge of foreign development funds, and the wealthy businessman and government supporter, Andy Apaid.

The Miami Herald reported that Bocchit Edmond had held discussions concerning a debt-financing deal, where Qatar would buy Haiti’s Petrocaribe debt to Venezuela. According to sources with knowledge of the situation, Apaid, the Central Bank governor, and the finance minister also discussed the Qatar deal while in Washington. That debt is at the center of anticorruption protests that have rocked the country for the last five months.

The relationship between the Haitian and US government shifted in January, when Haiti broke with years of government policy and voted in favor of a resolution at the Organization of American States (OAS) declaring the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela illegitimate. Overthrowing the Maduro government has become priority number one for the White House and Senator Rubio.

With Moïse's mandate under threat, the president switched positions and voted with the US. The decision was met with outrage, both in Haiti, and among other Caribbean leaders.

“Poor Haiti. They can’t withstand the pressure,” Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, told the Miami Herald after Haiti bucked the majority of its Caribbean allies and recognized Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela. “The current president of Haiti is just craving for US protection. That’s all. This guy came to the presidency entirely unprepared,” Gonsalves added.

But it is clear the Haitian government is seeking to turn the goodwill generated from its OAS vote into US support in its own political crisis. The delegations in DC also discussed an IMF rescue package (officially announced March 7) and met with US rice producers in an ill-fated effort to lower prices in Haiti.

That the financing deal with Qatar is gaining at least some traction now, it appears, is closely linked with Haiti’s OAS vote. There was concern in Haiti that, after switching its vote, the Venezuelan government would demand repayment. Haiti would be unable to do so — causing more financial problems for the government. On February 12, the Central Bank president and finance minister arrived back in Haiti, where the crisis showed no signs of abating.

On February 14, President Moïse broke a week of silence and addressed the nation concerning demands for his resignation and generalized unrest that had already led to multiple deaths and ground the country’s economy to a halt. He categorically refused to step down. "I will not leave the country in the hands of armed gangs and drug traffickers,” he declared in a prerecorded message.

In a comment that many are now reading more into, Moïse thanked the international community for the “great support they give us, especially in the security field, which they continue to provide.”

The next day, at the White House, Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond met with Trump’s national security advisor John Bolton. The same day, a passport was issued to Christopher Osman, one of the detained contractors, according to a Haitian Ministry of Justice document, and a private jet departed the Bahamas en route to Baltimore.

The Miami Herald reported that Haiti’s government had previously requested reinforcements from the United Nations, which has had police and soldiers on the ground for 15 years, but were rebuffed. Could the Haitian government have requested security assistance while in Washington as well?

I reached out to Apaid, the businessman who had traveled to Washington, asking if he would be willing to talk about the security contractors situation. He declined.  

As of today, it remains unclear if these security contractors’ presence in Haiti is in any way related to the government’s trips to Washington, or if any US government officials had advance knowledge of, or provided any support for, the contractors’ work in Haiti. But, by facilitating the contractors’ release, the US saved the Haitian government from further embarrassment.

Based on interviews and records obtained as part of this investigation, it is the connection to this case of another member of the Haiti delegation that is most sure to raise new questions about the nature of, and official involvement in, this operation.

Soon after the contractors’ detention on February 17, a local journalist started filming live on Facebook, broadcasting images of the group, all men, inside a local police station called the “Cafeteria.” The reporter witnessed the minister of communications enter the police station, followed by the government prosecutor. Images of passports, and of the cache of equipment that the police had discovered, spread over social media.

That evening, Haitian government officials tried to intervene and secure the group’s release. One of President Moïse’s advisors made a call. And that evening, the minister of justice personally intervened, according to reports in the local press, independently confirmed.

Police and judicial officials resisted for days, promising thorough investigations and professionalism. It was clear that the presence of armed foreigners, and the possibility they were working for the government, caused resentment among certain police officers and officials. The politicization of Haiti’s security forces remains a significant concern, including among international partners who have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to professionalization efforts.

From the beginning, the case itself was political. And regardless of what the contractors were doing, or whom exactly they were working for, their detention exposed the depths of the current political crisis in Haiti — and their “rescue” by the United States helped to put a lid back on top of it.

For days, however, there was no indication the United States would get involved. In a brief statement on February 19, the embassy noted that it had provided normal consular services to the detained Americans. “Due to privacy considerations, we are unable to comment further,” the statement concluded.

That afternoon, in an impromptu interview with CNN at his residence, Prime Minister Jean-Henry Céant referred to those detained, who had yet to be formally charged, as “terrorists” and “mercenaries.” He then implied that they wanted access to the roof of the Central Bank in order to assassinate government officials, in particular Céant himself.

If Moïse was pushed to resign as president, it would likely be Prime Minister Céant, who ran as an opposition candidate in the previous election, next in line. The power struggle coloring the background of the ongoing political crisis was on full display. US embassy officials were incensed, and that evening the prime minister’s staff desperately tried to control the situation.

On February 20, the minister of justice sent a letter requesting the release, into US custody, of the seven US-based contractors. Attached, though not made public, was a letter from Mario Reta, the embassy’s regional security officer, apparently requesting the transfer. When Americans are arrested for violating local laws, they must face local charges, and the State Department makes clear it cannot “get U.S. citizens out of jail.” And this was not a formal extradition.

The minister’s letter claimed that the group would face arms trafficking charges upon their return to the United States. Unknown to those of us following the story on the ground (we were at court that afternoon, waiting for the detained contractors’ first appearance before a judge), the Americans were already at the airport.

When they arrived in Miami, US law enforcement reportedly met them on the plane. What agency was responsible for this, however, remains a mystery. Local police departments, the Department of Justice, FBI, TSA, and the US Marshals Service all denied any involvement, according to Task & Purpose. Two agencies that have yet to make any public statements are the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The following day, citing “federal sources,” the Miami Herald reported that “the men will not be charged criminally, but are being debriefed.” The contractors, the Herald continued, “told US authorities they were on the island providing private security for a ‘businessman’ doing work with the Haitian government.” The Haitian president and prime minister both denied having any knowledge of their departure.

Though the United States had told Haitian judicial authorities that the men would face arms trafficking charges once they returned to the US, multiple sources close to the case, including in law enforcement, said they believe that the guns themselves were already in Haiti. A Haitian Senator charged that Leconte, the Preble-Rish businessman, provided the weapons. Haitian police are currently holding the equipment.

It’s unclear if the United States ever intended to bring charges, or if it just provided a justification for their release to US custody, but it remains possible that the US contractors, while violating many Haitian laws, did nothing wrong in the eyes of the US justice system. If the guns were already in the country however, they most likely were brought in illegally, and the contractors could have knowledge of how they were obtained, and by whom.

At noon on February 22, Lance Burton, the CEO of Hawkstorm Global, and brother of one of the detained Americans, told me over email: “We are bouncing our statement off the key players involved to make sure everyone is good to go with the release.” About two hours later, Christopher Osman posted his message on Instagram. I haven’t heard from Burton since. Osman wrote:

Osman quickly switched his account to “private,” but not before international media picked up his statement. The account is public again, but the post appears to have deleted.

In Haiti, the decision to release the contractors caused outrage, with many commentators pointing to the fact that the United States has provided financial support to, and touted the successes of, the Haitian justice system for years. If they believed in the institutions, why did the embassy prevent the contractors from facing a judge? The decision is “ugly, worse than a slap in the face,” one prominent radio personality opined, the Herald reported.

“The fact that the U.S. took these people and did not charge them, it shows there was a conspiracy,” Pierre Esperance, the executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network in Haiti, told the Miami Herald. “They didn’t want them to go before Haitian justice,” he added. It now appears the local investigation has stalled.

But the question remains: why did the US break diplomatic protocol and intervene? Was it to protect US citizens from a politicized trial? To protect the Haitian government from its domestic opponents? To put a lid on a story that was peeling back the earth, and exposing the fault lines threatening the Haitian president’s mandate? Or was it something more?

This investigation has provided significant new details about the case, but many questions remain unanswered. When I was in Haiti the week after the detention, many contacts noted the perception of fear resulting from the case and the automatic weapons found in the contractors possession. In November, images had surfaced of apparent foreigners embedded within the president’s palace guard. Political leaders and other actors have alleged that there are additional contractors still in Haiti, positioned in various cities and even near the residence of President Moïse. In the absence of a public investigation and clear explanation, that fear will remain, as will persistent allegations of the contractors’ involvement in the deaths of protesters.

One thing remains clear: we have yet to hear the end of this story.