iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Thrilled to announce that AID STATE will be translated into Kreyòl — but we need some help to make it happen. The translated text and audio versions will be completely free. Please consider chipping in: cepr.net/we-need-your...

cepr.net

We Need Your Help!

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

The files "offer support to the defense theory that CTU's actions in Haiti were effectuated in partnership with United States intelligence and Department of Justice agents ... to plan and carry out operations to effectuate regime change in foreign countries."

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

More allegations from the lawyers concerning US intelligence agencies' support for regime change in Bolivia, conducted through CTU — the Florida firm run by Ortiz and his partner Antonio Intriago.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

The lawyers claim to have found an audio file buried in discovery "that bridges the joint work between Ortiz and the American agencies in Bolivia in 2020 with the 2021 work in Haiti." The contents of that audio file are redacted.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

The lawyers also allege the messages show US intel officials coordinating with Ortiz on a "regime change" operation in Bolivia in 2020.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

NEW: In court filing, lawyers for one of the defendants in the Haiti assassination case cite text messages between Arcangel Ortiz and his FBI handler from 2020 up until one week before the assassination.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

What could possibly go wrong? "The founder of Blackwater, Erik Prince, visited Haiti in April to negotiate contracts to provide attack drones and training for an anti-gang task force."

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

But over the course of the last three months, about 10 gang members have been killed every day in Haiti. And security isn't improving, it's getting steadily worse. The data in the UN report make clear that a new strategy is needed.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

The armed groups in Haiti are responsible for heinous atrocities, including widespread sexual violence, as the UN report also makes clear.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

The UN also reported at least 50 cases of security forces' summarily executing unarmed individuals suspected of being in or collaborating with gangs.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Police operations in Cite Soleil "were particularly concerning due to the large number of casualties among the population," the UN reports. 76 civilians killed and 43 injured. "The victims were hit by stray bullets while they were in their residence or while walking."

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

But the Haitian police were responsible for more than half of those deaths. They reported killing about 700 people "associated with gangs" and well over a 100 civilians.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

n the first three months of the year, more than 1,600 Haitians were killed. That would likely make Haiti the country with the highest homicide rate in the world.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

It's official, the US has designated Viv Ansanm in Haiti as a "Transnational Terrorist Group."

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

This could end virtually all trade with Haiti, if actually enforced. Very little comes or goes out of Port-au-Prince without some payments being made. Humanitarian access programs would also likely cease. Can't enter a community to disperse aid without negotiations.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

A Haitian government official, asked by Washington Post about civilian casualties as a result of weaponized drone operations, had this to say: “To me, it’s just a detail. As long as you’re in a zone controlled by gangs and there are attacks, collateral damage is going to happen.”

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

The report details three seizures of cocaine hidden in bananas from Noboa Trading, one just last year. A defendant, now free, was represented by an advisor to Noboa, who currently serves as minister of health.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Explosive new report from @revistaraya.bsky.social, based on internal Ecuadorian police documents, showing the connections between the president's banana company and drug trafficking.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Combined, he's bringing in more than $200k a month. But why does the DR intel agency even need a lobbyist?

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Carlos Trujillo, "a top advisor" to Trump on Latin America who also served during the first admin, has signed four new lobbying contracts in the last month: Haiti, Guyana, Georgia, and, perhaps even stranger, the intelligence agency of the Dominican Republic.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Haiti sanctions imposed by the US, Canada, even the UN ... it's virtue signaling. They are largely meaningless and have done as much to encourage corruption and violence than deter it.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

During Noboa's time in office, his administration has been plagued by conflict of interest scandals. His family's extensive business holdings touch nearly every sector. Virtually the entire conglomerate is controlled by a handful of companies based in Panama and the Bahamas.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Noboa had previously denied any involvement with the Panamanian based Heckfield International, but here is another document listing his name as the "real owner."

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

And another document, showing Noboa's connection to Festil Investments, which happened to have an account at Banisi, an offshore bank linked to former president Guillermo Lasso.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Here's one document, showing Daniel Noboa listed as the "real owner" of Lanfranco Holdings, which as Folha's Claudia Jardim reported, is "one of the largest entities in the Noboa family conglomerate."

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

In 2023, before Daniel Noboa became president of Ecuador, @folha.com reported on leaked docs showing he owned shell companies in tax havens. It would make him ineligible to hold public office. 1.5 years later, and with elections next month, he has yet to address the allegations.

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Reposted by Jake Johnston

Dan Beeton @danbeeton.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

“You can’t address this phenomenon strictly through force. It’s putting all of the eggs in this one basket to the detriment of other things,” @ceprdc.bsky.social's @jakobjohnston.bsky.social says. #Haiti

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

USAID's new obligations for Haiti related work, from January 2024 through March 2025. So far in 2025, USAID has obligated a total of about $200k. No month in 2024 saw less than $8.5m obligated.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

"The fastest, quickest way to dismantle the gangs in Haiti would be to stop the flow of weapons, especially ammunition," UN human rights expert Bill O'Neill said. Instead, the US and others have spent more than half a billion importing a security force while arms keep flowing.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

The FARA disclosure is available here: efile.fara.gov/docs/6170-Ex...

efile.fara.gov

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

It's one month before Ecuador's elections and the government has just hired a DC lobbyist on a three month contract for $165,000. Agenda item #1 for the lobbyist: facilitate an official state visit between Noboa and Trump.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, says that the recent violence in the Catatumbo region is directly connected to the violence in Haiti. In Haiti, traffickers have "more power than the government," former president Preval once told me.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

One could write a book about the framing of this.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

We will see many arguments like this. Here's the problem: yes, USAID is good for agricultural producers in the US. But that is not really a good thing for the countries we are supposedly "helping." In fact, US food aid has often decimated local production.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

In defending USAID, former director Samantha Power makes plain that USAID is used to gain political leverage over foreign governments, often in order to advance US commercial interests. "To help a US company enter a new market ... they say yes."

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Reposted by Jake Johnston

HaitiJustice @haitijustice.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

They could have read @jakobjohnston.bsky.social “Aid State” a year ago and learned that.

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Reposted by Jake Johnston

Dan Beeton @danbeeton.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

"Few countries across the world are as dependent on US foreign assistance as #Haiti," @jakobjohnston.bsky.social writes, and while much of it goes to Beltway contractors & undermines Haiti, "Simply stopping all aid flows overnight ... will have significant effects..." #USAID cepr.net/publications...

cepr.net

Where Does the Money Go? A Look at USAID Spending in Haiti

Discover the significance of USAID spending in Haiti and its implications for US foreign policy. Get expert analysis from Jake Johnston.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Early in Obama's first term, the US announced a big reform program for USAID that would have broken up the big contracts that go only to the beltway bandits. Here's how the contractors responded, from AID STATE:

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Shedding a tear for USAID’s Beltway bandits, who get 100% of their revenue from aid contracts that are now likely frozen.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

This figure has since increased to $219.3 million. The contract was extended until March 2025. That would be an average of about $20 million per month for the MSS base in Haiti.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

For more background on the drug trade in Haiti and its long-term effects on the country's politics: t.co/SBMdlTW9UV

t.co

https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/the-outsourcing-of-haiti-how-us-intervention

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

"A small group of individuals has maintained considerable influence over Haiti's drug trade from the 1980s until today." 👀👀👀

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

"Some reports indicate that powerful political and economic figures in Haiti use the eel industry to launder drug profits," head of UNODC tells the Security Council.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

In two months, Haitian police were responsible for at least 55 summary executions. 603 have been killed in police operations but 43% of those were people "not involved in acts of violence." Lots of talk about strengthening police, but little about ending police abuses.

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Jake Johnston @jakobjohnston.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

For far too long, the Latin American left has largely betrayed Haiti, simply following US policy. Hopefully Colombian president Gustavo Petro's visit to Jacmel today will be the beginning of a new chapter. Haiti needs new "friends."

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