18 Suspects in Haitian President’s Killing Set for Extradition to Florida
Eighteen suspects arrested in the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse were awaiting extradition to the United States on Sunday, marking the end of a drawn-out judicial process in Haiti over a killing that shocked the already fragile Caribbean nation.
The suspects are expected to face trial in Florida, according to U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Reding Quiñones.
“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. Among those who remain in Haiti awaiting trial are more than a dozen Colombian soldiers and a former Haitian government official.
Quiñones said 30 people have been indicted in Moïse’s killing. FBI Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles noted that there were multiple arrests in the United States and abroad on Sunday.
Skiles said 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.”
The extraditions come as U.S. authorities continue to prosecute and sentence multiple other suspects in the case. In May, a Florida jury convicted four men in the killing, while at least five others have pleaded guilty and are serving life sentences.
Those recently convicted include Arcángel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla and James Solages. All four had pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors alleged the four men were among the masterminds behind the plot to kill the Haitian president. A jury found them guilty of conspiring to kill or kidnap Haiti’s elected leader and of providing material support for the plot.
Martine Moïse, the former first lady, was wounded during her husband’s assassination. She testified in Miami federal court in March, giving emotional and at times graphic testimony about the attack inside the couple’s bedroom at their Petionville home.
She also directly accused former Haitian President Michel Martelly and former Prime Minister Ariel Henry of having connections to her husband’s killing. In 2024, a judge in Haiti indicted Martine Moïse on charges of complicity and criminal association. Her attorney described the charges as “ridiculous and unjust.”
The case has unfolded against the backdrop of Haiti’s deepening political and security crisis. Moïse’s killing widened a power vacuum that armed gangs have exploited, and the prosecutions in the United States have become a central arena for accountability in a crime whose roots and aftermath stretch well beyond the defendants at the center of the case.