Why is Washington Sanctioning Former Haitian President Martelly Now?

Nobody could really be shocked when the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Tue., Aug. 20 that it was initiating rather mild sanctions against former Haitian President Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly, 63, who has been comfortably living in recent years in Miami’s tony Upper East Side neighborhood on Biscayne Bay.

“Martelly abused his influence to facilitate the trafficking of dangerous drugs, including cocaine, destined for the United States,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in a press release. “Additionally, Martelly engaged in the laundering of illicit drug proceeds, worked with Haitian drug traffickers, and sponsored multiple Haiti-based gangs.”

Most Haitians, and surely U.S. law enforcement and intelligence, knew of Martelly’s close connection with drug traffickers, which dates back to long before he became Haiti’s president from May 2011 to February 2016. His father-in-law, Charles “Bébé” St. Rémy, was one of Haiti’s biggest drug kingpins, for whom the ribald musician “Sweet Micky” was a mule carrying drugs and money between the U.S. and Haiti, according to a close but estranged family member.

The drug capo mantle was later passed to Charles “Kiko” St. Rémy, Bébé’s son, who reigned as the terrifying and violent strong-man behind the scenes of Martelly’s government, of which his sister, Sophia St. Rémy Martelly, was the powerful and corrupt First Lady.

So the big question is: why did Washington help to hoist Martelly to power in 2011 and then wait until now to denounce his nefarious ways and connections?

There are numerous theories bouncing around Haiti and its North American diaspora, but three principal hypotheses stand out.

1) The U.S. does not want to see Martelly back in power.

Extensively interviewed by Haïti Liberté, confidential sources who worked in the United Nations Office in Haiti (BINUH) emphasized their alarm at the prospect of Michel Martelly returning to power above all because of the power and danger of Kiko St. Rémy.

The current de facto government of Prime Minister Garry Conille, in conjunction with a Transitional Presidential Council (TPC), is tasked with carrying out elections that will install an elected government on Feb. 7, 2026. Conille and the TPC are still wrangling over forming a Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) to promulgate an electoral law, calendar, and structure for the polling, which aims to fill every elected post in Haiti, all currently vacant.

Meanwhile, campaigning has unofficially begun, with Martelly using his “Sweet Micky” persona to get the ball rolling. Already in Florida, he has held several high-profile public and private concerts, all of which have generated controversy and attention. (As famous American circus owner P.T. Barnum said: “”There’s no such thing as bad publicity, as long as they spell your name right.”)

One of the biggest controversies has grown over his plan to take part in New York City’s annual West Indian Day Parade Carnival, which will take place as usual on Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway on Sep. 2.

Jensen Desrosiers, an owner of Brooklyn’s Anba Tonèl Restaurant and one of the initiators of the “Little Haiti and the Labor Day Haitian Task Force” of artists, business people, and community activists told Haïti Liberté that the group had effectively convinced the West Indian American Carnival Association (WIADCA), which runs the Carnival, to bar Martelly. “There is no way he will be participating in the parade,” Desrosiers said.

Despite such assurances, Haitian community mobilizations and anxiety about Martelly’s possible participation continue. Nonetheless, the new sanctions should to make that unlikely.

So, if Washington is trying to nip Martelly’s possible candidacy in the bud, the timing of sanctions at this time makes sense.

2) Washington is sending a shot across the bow of Conille and the TPC.

There is now tremendous turmoil within the TPC and between the TPC and Conille. The tension has come to a head over Conille’s firing of National Bank of Credit (BNC) president Raoul Pascal Pierre-Louis, who blew the whistle on an alleged attempt by three TPC members to bribe him for $757,000.

So the big question is: why did Washington help to hoist Martelly to power in 2011 and then wait until now to denounce his nefarious ways and connections?

Although the TPC is rent by rivalries, its seven voting members representing seven political sectors/parties (including Martelly’s Haitian Bald-Headed Party or PHTK) may find the unity to oust Conille due to their shared disenchantment with him. Washington, on the other hand, would like to preserve the status quo, with both Conille (of whom it approves) and the TPC remaining unchanged. The sanctioning of Martelly could be a warning to all the TPC’s politicians that nobody is immune from prosecution.

Meanwhile, it may also be a warning to Garry Conille himself. Nesmy Manigat was Martelly’s Education Minister, who was accused of massive corruption by illegally funneling from Haiti’s education budget “millions [of dollars] to senators, deputies, and Sophia Martelly,” according to the website Haitian-Truth.org. Today, sources say he is still very close to Martelly while he is Conille’s chief-of-staff. Manigat, through Conille, could have an important influence on the proposed upcoming elections, a prospect which may also alarm Washington.

3) Washington is warning Martelly’s associates in Haiti not to mess with Conille.

In July, Conille instructed Haiti’s “Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC), the Superior Court of Auditors and Administrative Disputes (CSCCA), the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF), and the Government Commissioner at the Court of First Instance of Port-au-Prince to conduct a ‘joint investigation’ into a ‘significant suspicion of corruption’ surrounding the sale of fuel to the Office of Monetization of Development Aid Programs (BMPAD), which resulted in the misallocation of several million dollars by the Haitian state,” according to Le Nouvelliste.

The disputed sale in question was made by a Haitian company, Preble-Rish Haiti SA, which has had a close relationship with both Martelly and his successor, Jovenel Moïse. The company’s principal founder, Gesner Champagne, married Kiko St. Rémy’s and Sophia Martelly’s sister, Claudia St. Rémy, which stands to reason given his close friendship with Martelly for years.

“In March 1996, Gesner Champagne was arrested in the United States on arms trafficking charges,” explained Jake Johnston in a 2019 CEPR article. “ Martelly, it was reported, paid the $150,000 bail, and Martelly owned the house at the Miami address Champagne listed in court documents. He eventually reached an accommodating plea deal after cooperating in another investigation.”

A New York judge ruled that Haiti should pay Preble-Rish $28 million, which appears to be the ruling that Conille is now challenging.

Preble-Rish was also involved in organizing and facilitating the failed attempt in February 2019 by U.S. mercenaries to abscond with $80 million from Haiti’s central bank on behalf of then President Moïse. Nonetheless, two years later, Moïse ended up at odds with Preble-Rish over the contested fuel deal, which is still under investigation.

Whether one or a combination of the above scenarios may have helped spur U.S. action against Martelly, the sanctions remain very moderate. As Haiti activist lawyer Brian Concannon, Jr. pointed out in a tweet: “The actual sanctions that were announced don’t seize or freeze any assets or stop him from doing business in the U.S.. They just limit his ability to obtain loans, credit and investments, and to exchange money.”

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) admitted as much in their announcement of the measures, trumpeting the “power and integrity of OFAC sanctions” because of the agency’s “willingness to remove sanctions consistent with the law.”

“The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior,” OFAC emphasizes.

But the odds of Martelly changing his behavior due to what Concannon calls a  “tap-on-the-wrist” after so many years of impunity, and even rewards from those now scolding him, would seem to be very slim.