House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in March 2021, headlined “Policy Recommendations on Haiti for the Biden Administration,” a former ambassador to Haiti recommended that the way to deal with troublesome President Jovenel Moïse was to “put him aside” and embrace something she called “the prime minister option.” Four months later, Jovenel Moïse was assassinated and replaced with a U.S.-backed prime minister, fueling suspicion of American involvement. The U.S. was unsatisfied with Moïse and, as new elections approached amid a deteriorating on-the-ground situation, wanted a faster transition. “It would be nice if he would step down, but I do not think that is going to happen,” said former Ambassador Pamela White at the hearing, under questioning from Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla. White was a foreign service officer in Haiti from 1985 to 1990, and served as ambassador from 2012 to 2015. “So I think if we sort of put him aside, you know, in the best of all worlds, and we have a prime minister appointed that is noncorrupt, that is not from the political sector, is not from the private sector — there are several really good candidates. I am not going to name them, but there are several.” (https://theintercept.com/2022/01/13/haiti-president-jovenel-moise-ambassador/) White appears to mean “put aside” in the hypothetical sense, discussing the future of Haiti without the former president as an obstacle, but the phrase takes on new meaning given his assassination in July at the hands of Colombian mercenaries alleged to be organized by elements of the Haitian elite. The comments have circulated among Haitians online, heightening suspicion on the island that the U.S. approved of the operation against Moïse.