US indicts 30 suspects in assassination of Haitian president

Federal prosecutors in the US indicted 30 individuals Sunday for their alleged participation in the 2021 assassination of Haiti’s president.

"Today marks the next major phase in our pursuit of accountability for the assassination of President Jovenel Moise," US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Reding Quinones said, adding that authorities transferred 18 defendants to the US state of Florida from Haiti via military aircraft to face charges in federal court.

Quinones stressed that investigators will continue pursuing those who financed, facilitated, or committed crimes to enable the killing. "Five years later, we are still bringing defendants before American courts, and we are not finished," he said.

Brett Skiles, the FBI special agent in charge, said the individuals carried out the assassination to secure "illicit" business opportunities and contracts, emphasizing that multinational arrests demonstrate sustained efforts to hold all conspirators accountable.

Moise was killed on July 7, 2021, by an armed commando at his private residence in a suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince.

After the assassination, Haiti slid into a worse crisis, including gang coalitions seizing most of the capital, the collapse of political institutions, and humanitarian conditions deteriorating to near failed-state levels.