18 suspects extradited to Florida over 2021 assassination of Haiti's president
Eighteen people accused in the July 2021 killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse have been extradited to the US to stand trial in Florida.
Haiti extraditions: 18 suspects flown to Florida over Moïse assassination
Eighteen suspects linked to the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse were extradited to the United States on Sunday, apnews.com reports, bringing to a close a protracted judicial process in Haiti for a killing that sent shockwaves through the Caribbean nation.
The group — comprising more than a dozen Colombian former soldiers and at least one senior Haitian official — will face trial in Florida, according to Jason Reding Quiñones, US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
"Today marks the next major phase in our pursuit of accountability for the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse," Quiñones wrote on X. "We will follow the evidence wherever it leads, to those who financed it, facilitated it, supported it or committed crimes to make it possible. Five years later, we are still bringing defendants before American courts, and we are not finished."
Quiñones did not identify the suspects by name. A spokesperson for the US Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
Joseph Badio among those transferred
Among those extradited is Joseph Badio, a former employee of Haiti's Ministry of Justice who had served in an anti-corruption unit. Badio, considered one of the central figures in the plot, had evaded capture for more than two years before his arrest in Haiti in October 2023. Defence attorneys representing other suspects in the US have argued that Badio was the mastermind behind a scheme to use a presidential arrest operation as cover to kill Moïse.
Quiñones confirmed that 30 people in total have been indicted in connection with Moïse's killing. FBI Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles said there were multiple arrests both in the US and abroad on Sunday. Skiles added that the FBI and its partners "remain steadfast in ensuring that all individuals who allegedly sought profit from the assassination of a head of state are held fully accountable."
Relatives caught off guard
Diana Marcela Arbeláez Llano, wife of one of the Colombian suspects, said in a phone interview from Colombia on Sunday that the extradition came as a complete surprise to the families.
"We never imagined that the United States would have taken them so suddenly," she said. Arbeláez added that all the detained Colombians were in poor health following years in Haitian prisons, which she described as notoriously inhumane, and that she hoped conditions would improve in the US.
"I don't know why the United States would have taken them," she said. "It's a state of total uncertainty."
Relatives of the Colombian suspects had previously raised concerns about repeated delays in the Haitian judicial process, with the investigation stalled by gang violence, death threats, and a deteriorating court system. In October 2025, Haitian justice officials asked both the US and Canada for assistance after a local court of appeals ordered yet another fresh inquiry — the third since Moïse was shot 12 times at his private residence in July 2021, an attack that also left his wife injured. Earlier investigations had collapsed after Haitian judges repeatedly resigned from the case, citing fears for their lives, while gangs seized control of the Port-au-Prince courthouse where suspects were being questioned.
Convictions already secured in Florida
The extraditions follow significant progress in the parallel US prosecution. In May, a jury in Florida convicted four men in connection with the killing: Arcángel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla and James Solages — all of whom had pleaded not guilty. The jury found them guilty of conspiring to kill or kidnap Haiti's elected leader and of providing material support for the plot.
At least five other defendants have pleaded guilty and are already serving life sentences, among them a retired Colombian army officer and a Haitian-Chilean businessman who had previously worked as a US government informant.
Still awaiting trial is Christian Sanon, a Haitian-American whom authorities allege was initially designated by the conspirators to replace Moïse as president. Prosecutors say the plan envisioned Sanon awarding infrastructure, security and military contracts to a company called CTU — Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy and Counter Terrorist Unit Security — once he assumed power. Ortiz and Intriago were principals at CTU; Veintemilla was a principal at Worldwide Capital Lending Group. Both companies were based in South Florida.
Key fugitive remains at large
Authorities have identified Dimitri Hérard, former head of security at Haiti's National Palace, as one of the key remaining fugitives in the case. Hérard escaped approximately two years ago after a powerful gang federation stormed Haiti's two largest prisons.
Moïse was shot dead at his private residence in the early hours of 7 July 2021 in an attack widely described as one of the most brazen political killings in the Western Hemisphere in recent memory. The assassination plunged Haiti deeper into political and security turmoil, with gang violence escalating sharply in the years that followed.
Source: Google News MT