16599: (Hermantin)Sun-Sentinel-Reputed Haitian druglord pleads guilty in Miami to two o (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Reputed Haitian druglord pleads guilty in Miami to two of five charges



Associated Press

August 30, 2003

MIAMI -- A reputed Haitian druglord charged with coordinating the movement
of 33 tons of Colombian drug shipments through Haiti on their way to the
United States pleaded guilty Thursday to two of five counts against him.

Beaudoin ``Jacques'' Ketant, 40, pleaded guilty to two drug charges,
according to U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno's office. A sentencing
hearing was set for Dec. 4.

The Herald reported in Friday's editions that Ketant has agreed to start
debriefings with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in hopes of
reducing a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.

Miami defense attorney Ruben Oliva told the newspaper that Ketant could
implicate plenty of Haitian leaders who allowed the island to become a major
stopover point in the cocaine trade.

``He has plenty to offer them,'' Oliva said. ``He can be a huge, huge help
to the DEA.''

Thomas Raffanello, head of the DEA Miami field office, said Ketant could be
an important asset to investigators hoping to build cases against major
Columbian traffickers and middlemen in Curacao and Panama.

``We're definitely looking forward to talking to Mr. Ketant,'' Raffanello
told the newspaper.

Ketant's attorney and prosecutors did not return phone messages Thursday
evening and night.

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 in June.

He was accused of paying off one-time Haitian strongman Joseph Michel
Francois as well as airport employees in Miami, New York and Port-au-Prince
to ignore cocaine and heroin couriers.

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

Co-defendants 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.

Francois, then Port-au-Prince's police chief, 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 major supporter of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

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

But Ketant's family fell into disfavor in recent months, and Haiti's police
killed his brother during a drug raid. The brawl at the Jesuit-run Union
School and threats to the principal triggered his expulsion.
Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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