18 suspects in Haitian president’s assassination face extradition to US for Florida trial

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Eighteen suspects arrested in connection with the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse were awaiting extradition to the United States Sunday, ending a lengthy judicial process in Haiti over a killing that shocked the troubled Caribbean nation.

The suspects will face trial in Florida, according to Jason Reding Quiñones, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

What they're saying:

"Today marks the next major phase in our pursuit of accountability for the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse," he 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."

Dig deeper:

Quiñones did not identify the suspects, but those who remain in Haiti awaiting trial include more than a dozen Colombian soldiers, a former Haitian police officer and a former Haiti Ministry of Justice employee who was part of an anti-corruption unit.

Quiñones said that 30 people have been indicted in Moïse’s killing, with FBI Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles noting that there were multiple arrests in the U.S. and abroad on Sunday.

He said that the FBI and others "remain steadfast in ensuring that all individuals who allegedly sought profit from the assassination of a head of state are held fully accountable."

Relatives of some of the Colombian soldiers didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.

They had previously complained about the repeated delays in the Haitian judicial process following their arrest in 2021, with the investigation stalled by gang violence, death threats and a crumbling judicial system.

The backstory:

In October 2025, justice officials in Haiti asked the U.S. and Canada for help after a local court of appeals ordered a new investigation into Moïse's killing, the third inquiry of its kind since he was fatally shot at his private residence in July 2021. The previous investigations were stalled because Haitian judges kept resigning from the case, fearing for their lives, and gangs seized control of the downtown Port-au-Prince courthouse where the judges were interrogating suspects.

The extradition comes as the U.S. continues to prosecute and sentence multiple other suspects in the case.

In May, a jury in Florida convicted four men in the killing, and 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 of whom pleaded not guilty. A jury found them guilty of conspiring to kill or kidnap Haiti’s elected leader and providing material support for the plot.

Still awaiting trial is Christian Sanon, a Haitian-American citizen whom authorities said was initially picked by the alleged conspirators to replace Moïse. Once in power, the plan was for him to award contracts to a company known as CTU for infrastructure projects, security forces and military equipment.

Ortiz and Intriago were principals for CTU, which stood for Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy and Counter Terrorist Unit Security. Meanwhile, Veintemilla was a principal of Worldwide Capital Lending Group. Both companies were based in South Florida.

Suspects who previously pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court include a retired Colombian army officer and a Haitian-Chilean businessman who was once an informant for the U.S. government.

Authorities said that key fugitives in the case include Dimitri Hérard, ex-head of security at Haiti’s National Palace, who escaped last year after a powerful gang federation stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons.