MIAMI — The undercover work of former U.S. government informants suspected of plotting to kill Haiti’s president has compelled Miami federal prosecutors to seal off evidence about their past activities in the interest of U.S. national security, saying the information is classified and cannot be turned over to the defense in the widening investigation.
The decision means that the U.S. criminal case, which has run parallel to a faltering probe in Haiti, could become even more secretive in the United States and leave a trail of unanswered questions about how a group of Colombian commandos, a former FBI informant connected to a Miami-area security firm and two ex-Drug Enforcement Administration informants all came to be accused of participating in the deadly assault.
The U.S. move to protect classified evidence comes as the separate case in Haiti has stalled: the mandate of the fourth investigative judge expired on Monday with no formal charges brought against any of the roughly 40 suspects still jailed in Port-au-Prince months after the Haitian president’s murder last July.
