US mercenaries arrested in Haiti, part of a scheme to move $80M for president | Hacker News Reader

US mercenaries arrested in Haiti, part of a scheme to move $80M for president

theintercept.com

187 pointsjbegley40 comments

Note: The “president” in the title is Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

I first thought it was Trump, before reading the article

Through no fault of your own, no doubt. You thought exactly what the author (or editor) intended for you, and everyone else, to think.

I did not get that impression. The Intercept has covered a number of stories about Haiti and there are plenty of people who are aware of the political situation over there.

Putting "US", "president", "$80M", and "scheme" in the title was definitely done on purpose. The title could have easily been phrased differently to make it clear that the president in question was the Haitian president but that wouldn't get as many clicks.

Really? It didn't occur to me that it could be a president of any country but Haiti.

It's The Intercept, so...

U.S. authorities have so far failed to bring charges against the contractors for illegally traveling out of the United States with their weapons, which requires a license.

I'm skeptical charges will ever be brought. Ex-military security contractors are ubiquitous in certain parts of the world, and seem to live by a different set of rules.

I'd love to read more about the process of contractors acquiring those special rights. Maybe you got some further reading?

A lot of interesting references here: http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/International_Weapons_L...

Then for the US I'd switch to this: https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-me/legacy/2...

And after that I would probably look through the Federal Register for references to any executive orders concerning the extra-territorial use and possession of firearms by non-law enforcement personnel.

It's all about who you call after you have been detained.

for example, private military contracting is outright explicitly illegal in Russia. That didn't prevent in anyway a well known Russian private military company to fight in Ukraine and Syria ... both times of course for the side supported by Putin.

The Russian "Blackwater" is called Wagner Group.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagner_Group

These guys are also in Venezuela right now:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/25/venezuela-madu...

wink and a nod. Poor Obama has to give speeches to make some money, rulers in Haiti like countries make that much before 8am. Charges against such rulers are brought only when the wheels are not greased all the way, or when the opposition wants to take over. USA knows that, but they know that the next person will also steal, maybe even more, so they ignore a lot of things if you do a service for them. My guess is that this guy was given an un-offical pass, as long as...

The country may be poor but the budgets are still in the billions or tens of billions. x% goes to the leaders, plus a lot more for permits, buying state enterprises, telecom licenses, solve tax issues etc etc...

Yes, many folks that live in more functional western democracies don't understand that most people who live in corrupt countries and end up protesting in the streets aren't necessarily protesting the existence of corruption and graft (which are ambient and assumed) but rather the failure of these particular corrupted grafters to hold up their end by stealing maybe only two-thirds-ish of the money and at least trying to do something like what they were supposed to with the other third.

> which requires a license

From which country? The US has no restrictions on lawful transport of weapons in and out of country.

This may fall under ITAR if the weapons were select fire and/or restricted to LE/MIL. Not all weapons can be freely transported, especially if it's considered military tech.

A previous article about these guys that was posted here said their weapons were semiautomatic, as well as obtained in Haiti.

If true, that means the article claim about a license was false.

Even if they were semi, many popular optics are restricted by ITAR.

Keyword being lawful?

People are so exhausted from the aforementioned demonstrations I doubt anybody will demonstrate based on this new information. (I know people who went two weeks without any water in their home.) I just can't imagine Moise remains president for much longer. Note: I live in Haiti.

This incident with the mercenaries, is it the thing Haitians are particularly concerned with, or is it more of an episode in a bigger story?

The bigger story is the missing $2B - the story does touch upon that. Many contracts were handed out for works to companies owned by people in government or their friends and the works were not done.

DM me if you know someone in Haiti with my username for a surname

This was small potatoes compared to the UAE hiring ex-SF to conduct assassinations in Yemen.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/aramroston/mercenaries-...

Is this a follow up from a front page post about a week ago titled "My Boss Will Call Your Boss?"

Yes

Here's another article which follows the original as well:

https://haitiantimes.com/2019/03/12/question-remain-unanswer...

Yep, looks like it. I'm actually glad to have a little more color - the previous article didn't give the actual reason the mercenaries were in the country.

Search didn’t help, link?

Someone posted the link 1 min after your comment unfortunately :')

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19368175

It’s unclear to me how the “caper” was supposed to work... the goal, apparently, was to achieve a money transfer.

So... was the plan that the armed group of foreigners would intimidate bank personnel into allowing a transfer they otherwise wouldn’t allow? A kind of “soft” bank robbery?

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19368175

There is a comedy movie script in here somewhere I'm sure of it.

It almost reads like somebody was watching the TV series Mission: Impossible, and said, "Yeah, we should get some guys like that and move the money before anyone can catch us."

Three Kings movie, starring George Clooney

I find it amusing (and sad) that the title is equally believable if you think that "President" was referring to Trump.

I had to RTFA to find out.

The title of this feels a little like bait. Sadly it’s only because current political climate in the US has had it’s share of “schemes” to “move” money.

Whoever downvoted. Maybe you could leave a comment in support of the title so I can understand your point of view? Or at least a counter to my comment.

I agree with you. How can they give the article that title while the last sentence states, "It is unclear what that assignment might have been?" While I believe the title may be correct based off of other information in the article, the authors make themselves look incompetent (i.e., maybe covering their asses) by ending the article with that assertion.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com