18 Moïse Assassination Suspects Extradited from Haiti to Face Trial in Florida

Eighteen suspects arrested in connection with the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse were awaiting extradition to the United States, officials said, closing a protracted judicial chapter in Haiti for a killing that shook the Caribbean nation.

The suspects are to stand trial in Florida, US Attorney Reding Quiñones said. In a post on X, he described the transfers as the opening of a new phase in the effort to hold those responsible to account.

"Today marks the next major phase in our pursuit of accountability for the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse," Quiñones wrote. "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 name the suspects. Among those still in Haiti awaiting trial are more than a dozen Colombian soldiers and a former Haitian government official.

The US attorney said 30 people have been indicted in connection with Moïse's killing. FBI Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles noted that multiple arrests were carried out in the United States and abroad on Sunday.

Moïse was killed at his residence in July 2021, an attack that deepened instability in Haiti, which has since grappled with surging gang violence and a breakdown of state authority.