16119: (Hermantin) Miami Herald-Haitian held on charges of aiding Colombian drug cartel (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Posted on Thu, Jul. 10, 2003

Haitian held on charges of aiding Colombian drug cartels
BY CATHERINE WILSON
Associated Press

A reputed Haitian drug lord was ordered held without bail Wednesday on
charges that he coordinated the movement of 33 tons of Colombian drug
shipments through Haiti on their way to the United States.

Beaudoin ''Jacques'' Ketant was indicted six years ago but lived the good
life in a hilltop Haitian mansion until a brawl at his son's elite school
pushed the Haitian government to expel him last month.

Ketant, 40, is accused of paying off former Port-au-Prince Police Chief
Joseph Michel Francois as well as airport employees in Miami, New York and
Port-au-Prince to ignore cocaine and heroin couriers.

Codefendants who went on trial in 1998 received prison sentences ranging
from six years to life. The airport security chief in Port-au-Prince and a
Miami immigration inspector were among those convicted.

Defense attorney Joel DeFabio agreed with a government request that Ketant
be held without bond on the condition that he could raise the issue again
later. About a dozen relatives attended the hearing. ''I am confident that
by the end of the case, the interests of justice will prevail,'' DeFabio
said.

At an earlier hearing, Ketant pleaded not guilty to charges of drug
conspiracy and distribution, money-laundering conspiracy and racketeering,
carrying a possible 20-year prison sentence. Prosecutors also want him to
forfeit at least $15 million in drug profits.

Ketant allegedly arranged for drug couriers to transport cocaine for the
Cali, Medellín and Barranquilla cartels from Colombia, Panama and Curacao
through Haiti to the United States from 1987 to 1996.

Francois was never tried. He was seen as the power behind Haiti's ousted
military rulers and was granted political asylum in Honduras. He faces a
life sentence in Haiti for the 1993 killing of a supporter of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

In Haiti, Ketant flaunted his wealth at his gated mansion and was regularly
seen driving his black Humvee and Mercedes-Benz all-terrain vehicles. His
public appearances continued after he was featured in 2001 on a segment of
the TV show America's Most Wanted. He helped build a carnival grandstand in
front of the presidential palace last year.

But Ketant's family fell into disfavor in recent months, and Haitian police
killed his brother during a drug raid. The brawl at the Jesuit-run Union
School and threats to the principal triggered his expulsion.

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