Welcome to today’s Morning Brief, where we’re looking at the fate of suspects in the killing of Haiti’s president, reports of U.S. preparations to send longer-range weapons to Ukraine, and the conclusion of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to the Middle East.
If you would like to receive Morning Brief in your inbox every weekday, please sign up here.
Suspected Assassins Sent from Haiti to U.S.
Four key suspects in the killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse have been transferred to the United States for the trial. Local judges in Haiti have received threats.
Two of those transferred are Haitian Americans: James Solages, age 37, and Joseph Vincent, age 57. They were among the first arrested after the assassination. The other two were Christian Emmanuel Sanon, who is a pastor, doctor, and businessman, and Germán Rivera García, a Colombian citizen—one of almost two dozen Colombian soldiers charged.
A total of seven suspects in the killing are in custody in the United States. Dozens of others remain in Haiti’s main prison, and still more are still at large. Haitian officials are currently nominating a fifth judge; the first four either resigned or were dismissed.
Moïse was shot 12 times at his home near Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, in July 2021. Since then, Haiti’s government has requested international armed forces to help quell unrest. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said this week that his country would be willing to send soldiers and police officers to help “support a return to a reasonable level of stability and peace, which would be necessary for any inclusive, democratic process to take root.”
His announcement is the first time a regional government has responded to the Haitian government’s request they made it last October. Chaos in the country erupted partly due to a fuel siege that blocked energy supplies and was believed to be tied to a powerful gang. The United Nations Security Council has considered Haiti’s request, but ultimately issued sanctions, including on Jimmy Chérizier, a former police officer and gang leader.
What We’re Following Today
Biden prepares to send longer-range weapons to Ukraine. The United States has prepared an aid package to Ukraine worth more than $2 billion. The package is expected to include longer-range rockets, marking the first time the United States has provided them to Ukraine, according to Reuters. The package is also expected to feature support equipment for the Patriot air defense system and Javelin anti-tank weapons (Javelins may sound familiar; they were mentioned in the phone call between then-U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during which Trump is alleged to have pressed Zelensky for an investigation into Joe Biden in exchange for military aid, leading to his first impeachment trial).
One portion of this aid package will reportedly come from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows the Biden administration to get the weapons from industry, not from U.S. weapons stock.
Blinken wraps up his Middle East trip. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded his Middle East trip—to Israel, the West Bank, and Egypt—with no tangible reduction in regional tensions. Blinken said it was “fundamentally” up to Israelis and Palestinians to end the violence, though he called for de-escalation. “They have to work together to find a path forward that both defuses the current cycle of violence and, I hope, also leads to positive steps to build back some confidence,” Blinken said.
In the past week, almost two dozen people have been killed. Blinken spoke out more forcefully in defense of Israeli democracy, stressing “our support for core democratic principles and institutions, including respect for human rights, the equal administration of justice for all, the equal rights of minority groups, the rule of law, free press, a robust civil society—and the vibrancy of Israel’s civil society has been on full display of late,” an apparent reference to protests against proposed reforms that would weaken Israel’s judiciary.
Keep an Eye On
New Czech leader says Ukraine deserves to join NATO. Czech President-elect Petr Pavel told the BBC that Ukraine should be admitted into NATO “as soon as the war is over,” and that NATO would be “morally and practically ready.” He also said that sending western fighter jets was “not taboo,” but that the question was whether sending them could work on a timeframe that would be practically helpful to Ukraine. Pavel is a retired NATO general.
Myanmar marks the anniversary of its coup. Pro-democracy activists marked the two year anniversary of a military coup in Myanmar that saw Aung San Suu Kyi removed from power by holding a “silent strike.” Protesters asked that people stay indoors and businesses remain closed. The military administration has extended a state of emergency for six months. The governments of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada announced new sanctions against firms connected to the military.
Wednesday’s Most Read
•Brexit Has Delivered a Broken Britain by Liz Cookman
•Something Has to Give in Postwar Syria by Charles Lister
•Europe Doesn’t Need the United States Anymore by Rajan Menon and Daniel R. DePetris
Odds and Ends
They found it! Regular readers of this newsletter will recall that Australian mining company Rio Tinto lost a tiny, highly radioactive capsule, which contained cesium-137, at some point over an 870 mile stretch of road in western Australia. It fell off a truck and posed a “significant public health risk.” But it has been found.
It appears to have fallen off the truck shortly after setting off on its journey to Perth. Authorities are now surveying the area, establishing an exclusion zone around the site, and using the device’s serial number to verify it—and also investigating how, exactly, a highly radioactive capsule fell off the back of a truck in western Australia.