MIAMI/PORT-AU-PRINCE:

In a major breakthrough in a high-profile international murder mystery, eighteen suspects linked to the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse have been transported out of Haiti to face trial in the United States. U.S. federal officials announced that the group was flown aboard a military plane to the Southern District of Florida.

President Jovenel Moïse, 53, was brutally gunned down on July 7, 2021, inside his private residence in Port-au-Prince by a heavily armed group consisting of roughly 20 military-trained Colombian mercenaries. Shockingly, the late president’s security detail failed to intervene during the attack.

Federal prosecutor Jason Reding Quiñones highlighted the gravity of the operation on social media, writing: "18 transported in military plane from Haiti to face American justice in the Southern District of Florida. Five years later, we are still bringing defendants before American courts, and we are not finished." Quiñones noted that a total of 30 individuals have now been indicted in connection with the sprawling conspiracy.

FBI Special Agent Brett Skiles emphasized the tireless multi-jurisdictional efforts behind the arrests, noting that American courts retain jurisdiction over plots hatched or financed on U.S. soil. Among those recently extradited is Joseph Felix Badio, a former anti-corruption official at Haiti's Ministry of Justice identified as a core suspect in the probe, alongside multiple Colombian mercenaries.

The dramatic transfer aims to bypass a deeply crippled local judicial system. In Haiti, the investigation had suffered severe setbacks due to rampant gang violence, death threats against local judges, and a crumbling infrastructure that left courtrooms compromised. Gangs currently control approximately 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, plunging the nation into profound instability.

U.S. courts have already secured several convictions tied to the assassination plot. Earlier in May, a federal court in Miami convicted four men—linked to the South Florida-based security firm CTU—on charges including conspiracy to kill or kidnap Moïse and violating the U.S. Neutrality Act. Several other co-conspirators have previously pleaded guilty and are currently serving life sentences.

As the legal proceedings shift to American soil, prosecutors say they will continue following the trail of evidence to unmask all financial backers, facilitators, and conspirators who made the tragic assassination possible.