ICE arrests one of Haiti’s most powerful and wealthy businessmen

SAN JUAN (AP):

Federal immigration agents have arrested Dimitri Vorbe, one of Haiti’s most powerful businessmen and the latest elite figure from the troubled Caribbean country to be detained on US soil.

Vorbe was in custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday, according to online records. He was being held at Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami.

It wasn’t immediately clear why Vorbe was arrested or if he faces any charges. A search for court records in Florida on Tuesday showed no formal charges. An ICE spokesperson did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

His arrest comes two months after ICE agents in Florida arrested Réginald Boulos, a businessman, doctor and former Haitian presidential hopeful. Authorities have accused Boulos of supporting violent gangs in Haiti that the US government has deemed terrorist groups.

“With the arrests of Boulos and Vorbe, you are seeing a strata of Haitian society touched in their places of exile,” said Michael Deibert, author of Notes From the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti, and Haiti Will Not Perish: A Recent History.

“A message is being sent to the upper echelon of Haiti’s political and economic elite that they’re not untouchable anymore,” he said.

FAMILY BUSINESS

Vorbe and his family own Société Générale d’Énergie S.A, a private power company that was one of the biggest suppliers of electricity to Haiti’s state-owned company.

The Vorbe family also was known for securing major government construction projects for the building of roads and other infrastructure under former President René Préval.

“They were getting lots of money from the state,” said Jake Johnston, international research director at the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research. “Both Boulos and Dimitri Vorbe were the two members of the elite, the oligarchs that Jovenel went after.”

In 2020, the administration of slain former President Jovenel Moïse seized Vorbe’s power company following accusations of corruption.

“There is not much love lost in Haiti either for Dimitri Vorbe or Réginald Boulos, or many of the elite families,” Johnston said of the arrests. “Many people will cheer it in a country with a broken judicial system as it’s some sliver of accountability, (but) we don’t know what any of this is for. … How does this all fit together into a strategy that actually benefits Haiti?”

A US CRACKDOWN

Vorbe was taken into custody a day after the US government designated two former Haitian public officials who were close to the Vorbe family for involvement in “significant corruption” while in office.

The designation against Arnel Belizaire, a former member of Haiti’s Chamber of Deputies, and Antonio Cheramy, a former senator, means that they and their immediate family are “generally ineligible” to enter the US.

“The US government will remain relentless in pursuing those supporting terrorist gangs through indictments, arrests, sanctions, arms seizures and other immigration restrictions,” Christopher Landau, deputy secretary of the US Department of State, said Monday.