Eighteen people have been arrested in association with the ۲۰۲۱ assassination of the Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, according to US officials.
Moïse, ۵۳, was shot dead on ۷ July ۲۰۲۱, at his private residence by a hired group of about ۲۰ military-trained Colombian mercenaries. His security detail did not intervene to protect him.
“Today’s multi-location and international arrests underscore the FBI’s continued commitment to bringing all participants in this plot to justice,” FBI special agent Brett Skiles said on Sunday.
The suspects have been taken to Florida to stand trial.
In the same post on X, federal prosecutor Jason Reding Quinones said: “۱۸ 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,” Quinones wrote, adding that ۳۰ suspects have thus far been indicted in the killing.
In May, four men were convicted in a federal court in Miami of charges including conspiracy to kill or kidnap Moïse, conspiracy to provide material support and violating the US Neutrality Act to engage in an illicit military operation abroad.
The men face possible sentences of life in prison.
All four were linked to CTU, a private security firm based in Florida, and lured into the plot by the prospect of securing lucrative contracts in the event of Moïse’s ouster, according to federal prosecutors.
Eleven people have already been indicted in connection with the assassination in US courts, which have jurisdiction over plots hatched on American soil.
Five of them have been sentenced to life in prison, including a former Colombian soldier, a former Haitian senator, a Haitian Chilean businessman, a retired Colombian soldier and a Haitian American.
Haiti has descended into deeper chaos since Moïse’s killing, and currently has no president.
It is preparing to hold its first presidential and legislative election since ۲۰۱۶, as well as a referendum on the constitution, on ۱۳ December – if security conditions allow.
Gangs control about ۸۰% of Port-au-Prince, and violent crimes such as kidnappings for ransom, armed robbery and carjackings plague the impoverished nation.
A UN-backed armed force tasked with helping local police combat gangs will not be fully staffed by October as planned, its spokesperson said earlier this month.
Announced by the UN security council last year, the Gang Suppression Force was expected to ramp up between April and October to a planned capacity of ۵,۵۰۰ uniformed personnel and ۵۰ civilian staff.
As of July, it comprised fewer than ۱,۰۰۰ personnel from Chad, Mongolia, Jamaica, Guatemala, El Salvador and Sri Lanka. More recent figures have not been disclosed.
