Canadian federal police said Thursday they have charged a man in Quebec province for allegedly plotting to sow violence in Haiti and overthrow its government.
Gerald Nicolas, a 51-year-old resident of Levis, Quebec, is alleged to have "planned a terrorist act to overthrow the Haitian government of Jovenel Moise," the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a statement.
The RCMP said an investigation started in July 2021 revealed that Nicolas actively planned "to stage an armed revolution in Haiti and ultimately seize power."
Those "concrete actions," it said, included traveling to Haiti to coordinate a group that was to take part in the coup.
The RCMP noted, however, that the plot was unrelated to the assassination of Moise, who was shot dead in his bedroom by a commando group at his Port-au-Prince house in July 2021.
Police Sergeant Charles Poirier told Agence France-Presse the RCMP had been alerted about the suspect's "suspicious activity" by authorities, and that led to Nicolas's arrest in November 2021 and a search of his home.
He was subsequently released as the investigation continued.
In addition to going to Haiti, Nicolas "visited multiple countries in South and Central America to recruit fighters and secure financing and weapons," Poirier said. "However, he was unsuccessful in acquiring those weapons."
No further information was immediately available about Nicolas' alleged motives in wanting to topple the Haitian government.
The close timing of his alleged coup plot and Moise's assassination "might be a coincidence," said Poirier, adding that police found "no evidence to suggest a link between the two."
At the time of Moise's murder, Haitian police had quickly arrested about 20 people including 18 former Colombian soldiers presumed to be hired as mercenaries.
But their investigation has since stalled.
In a telephone interview with AFP, Nicolas denied the accusations leveled against him, saying they were orchestrated by a jilted lover as "revenge" for breaking up with her.
She went to police "and made up a whole story that I was a terrorist," he said.
Nicolas said he had created a Facebook page, which has since been taken down, encouraging Haitians "to take matters into their own hands" and not wait for Western nations "to come and solve their problems."
But he insisted it was in no way nefarious. "I never wanted to hurt anyone," he said. "There is no terrorist group."
The Caribbean island nation's presidency has been vacant since Moise's death, with no date set for a vote to fill the office.
Haiti is now gripped by instability provoked by armed gangs terrorizing the population, and is again dealing with a cholera outbreak after stamping out a previous epidemic of the diarrheal disease that killed more than 10,000.
Nicolas is scheduled to appear in a Canadian court on December 1 to face charges of funding and facilitating terrorist activity and traveling abroad to do so.
His lawyer, Tiago Murias, said Nicolas will plead not guilty.
