Eighteen suspects facing federal charges related to the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise were transported to the United States on Sunday. A military flight carried the detainees from Port-au-Prince to Florida, where they are scheduled to stand trial for their alleged participation in a transnational conspiracy to kill the former leader.
The extradition follows convictions secured in May by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida against individuals described as “gang leaders” and “co-conspirators” in the plot. US Attorney Jason A Reding Quinones, a appointee of President Donald Trump, is directing the high-profile investigation.
“Today marks the next major phase in our pursuit of accountability for the assassination of President Jovenel Moise,” Quinones stated on social media. “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.”
While Quinones did not immediately release the identities of the newly extradited suspects, those still awaiting trial in Haiti include more than a dozen Colombian soldiers and a former Haitian government official. FBI Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles confirmed that multiple arrests were executed in the US and abroad on Sunday, emphasizing that the bureau remains committed to holding accountable all individuals who allegedly sought profit from the assassination of a head of state.
Moise, aged 53, was shot dead at his private residence in the Pelerin 5 neighborhood above Port-au-Prince in July 2021. His wife was critically injured in the attack. The murder created a significant political vacuum in the Caribbean nation, which has since lacked an elected national leader. Exploiting this institutional collapse, armed gangs have expanded their control, now reportedly dominating approximately 90 percent of the capital.
The United Nations documented at least 8,100 gang-related killings in 2025, with insecurity forcing roughly 1.5 million people to flee their homes. Federal jurisdiction was established in Florida because the southern part of the state served as the primary hub for planning, financing, and staging the assassination. Prosecutors also noted that a fair trial within Haiti has become increasingly unfeasible due to security failures, entrenched graft, and a judicial system hollowed out by violence and humanitarian crises.
Pierre Esperance, executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network, criticized the transfer, calling it a “disgrace for the Haitian justice system” and urging reforms to enable complex cases to be tried domestically. In May, a Florida jury convicted four men in connection with the killing, and at least five others have pleaded guilty and are serving life sentences. No national elections have been held in Haiti since Moise’s death.
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