section_path: History (2018–2019)/2019 actions/Arrest of foreign mercenaries
section_name: Arrest of foreign mercenaries
paragraph_text: Arrest of foreign mercenaries
  
  The Port-au-Prince newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported on 18 February 2019 that a Haitian citizen and seven non-Haitians were arrested in the city. At the time of their arrest, they were carrying rifles, pistols, drones, and satellite phones in their vehicle, which did not have any license plates. Haitian Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond confirmed that among them were five Americans. According to the editor of Haiti Liberté, the group included two former Navy SEALs, a former Blackwater employee, and two Serbian mercenaries living in the U.S. They were tasked with protecting the former head of the National Lottery, who intended to transfer US$80 million from a PetroCaribe bank account—controlled jointly by the President, the Prime Minister, and the President of the Central Bank—to a bank account solely controlled by President Jovenel Moïse.