Christian Sanon, the Haitian-American doctor accused by authorities of plotting the assassination of Haiti’s President, spent months planning a foray into national politics in the country, holding weekly Zoom meetings through early this year with academics and business leaders, and at one point meeting with the man who allegedly supplied the mercenaries behind the killing, according to a person at the meeting.

The political effort never included a plan for a violent overthrow, people involved in it said. Two men who attended meetings with Sanon called him a thoughtful politician with a genuine interest in improving the country. And a letter sent to a senior US State Department official in late May outlined a serious project that had the support of Haitian leaders who “represent approximately 80% of the population.”

But according to authorities in Colombia and Haiti, Sanon had a secret plan B. Haitian police allege Sanon recruited the more than two dozen men who stormed the residence of Jovenel Moise, the assassinated President, in an attempt to seize power.

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