Eighteen suspects extradited to the United States over Haiti president's killing

Eighteen suspects accused in the 2021 assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moise have been flown from Port-au-Prince to Florida to face federal charges in the United States. The transfer marks a new stage in a long-running international investigation into the killing, which took place at Moise's private residence in the Pelerin 5 neighbourhood above the Haitian capital. US prosecutors say the case remains active and that they are pursuing everyone they believe played a role in the plot.

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The suspects were transported on a military flight on Sunday from Haiti to the US state of Florida, where they are expected to stand trial. Federal prosecutors in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida previously secured convictions in May against people they described as gang leaders and co-conspirators in the same case. US Attorney Jason A.

Reding Quinones said the latest move represented the next major phase in the pursuit of accountability and said investigators would follow the evidence wherever it leads. Quinones did not immediately identify the 18 people extradited. He said the investigation is not finished and that authorities are still seeking to hold to account those who financed, facilitated, supported or carried out crimes linked to the assassination.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles said multiple arrests in the United States and abroad were made on Sunday, underlining the wider reach of the inquiry. Moise was shot dead overnight in July 2021, and his wife was critically injured in the attack. His killing created a political vacuum in Haiti, which has remained without any elected national leader since then.

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The case has become one of the most closely watched legal proceedings linked to Haiti's wider instability, because it connects a political assassination to an alleged transnational criminal plot. The broader context is Haiti's deepening security and governance crisis. The source material says armed gangs have expanded their influence since the collapse of national leadership and now control an estimated 90 percent of Port-au-Prince.

It also says at least 8,100 gang killings were documented in 2025, with insecurity displacing about 1.5 million people. Against that backdrop, the Moise case has taken on significance beyond the courtroom, as it touches on accountability, state collapse and the reach of organised violence. Some suspects remain in Haiti awaiting trial, including more than a dozen Colombian soldiers and a former Haitian government official.

It is not immediately clear which of the 18 extradited defendants will face which specific charges, or how quickly proceedings in Florida will advance. What remains certain is that prosecutors say the investigation is still ongoing and that further arrests or charges may follow as they continue to examine the alleged network behind the killing.

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