Eighteen suspects who were arrested in the July 2021 killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse were awaiting extradition to the U.S. on Sunday, marking the end of a drawn-out judicial process in Haiti for a killing that shocked the troubled Caribbean country.

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

 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. 

Quiñones did not identify the suspects, and a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

The suspects who remain in Haiti awaiting trial included more than a dozen Colombian soldiers, a former Haitian police officer and Joseph Badio, a former Haiti Ministry of Justice employee who was part of an anti-corruption unit. Badio, considered a key suspect, was arrested in Haiti in October 2023 after being on the run for more than two years.

Families of suspects surprised by extradition

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. 

The wife of one of the suspects, Diana Marcela Arbeláez Llano, said in a phone interview Sunday from Colombia that the extradition caught her and the relatives of the other suspects by surprise.

 We never imagined that the United States would have take them so suddenly,  she said, adding that she hopes they have the opportunity to prove their innocence.

Arbeláez said all the detained Colombians are very sick given the no

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