FBI says suspects sought profit, contracts
Joseph Felix Badio’s extradition status remained unclear Sunday as U.S. law enforcement officials announced that 18 suspects in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse had been arrested and flown to the United States to stand trial. The suspects are among 30 people indicted in connection with Moïse’s killing, according to U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quinones. In a Sunday statement, FBI Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles said the suspects sought to profit from illicit financial opportunities and business contracts.
“In July 2021, President Jovenel Moise was assassinated by individuals seeking to profit from illicit financial opportunities and business contracts. Today’s multi-location and international arrests underscore the FBI’s continued commitment to bringing all participants in this plot to justice,” Skiles said.
The arrests come four months after a federal jury in Florida convicted four Florida men — Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla and James Solages — of scheming to violently overthrow Moïse and install their handpicked successor so they could obtain lucrative government contracts in Haiti.
Prosecutors said the plotters recruited allies in the United States, Colombia and Haiti to carry out the operation, including 22 former Colombian Army soldiers and Haitian gang leaders. The Miami Herald reported Sunday that a U.S. military aircraft was at Port-au-Prince’s international airport earlier in the day to pick up former Colombian soldiers accused of participating in the assassination.
Moïse was killed on July 7, 2021, in a brazen attack on his home in the capital, Port-au-Prince, by armed assailants. His wife, Martine Moïse, sustained gunshot wounds to her arms and thigh and suffered other injuries during the assault. Authorities at the time said 20 Colombian citizens and a handful of dual Haitian-American citizens participated in a plot whose original aim was to kidnap and arrest the president but which devolved into assassination.
Text messages presented as evidence at the Florida trial indicated Badio played an important role as the plot evolved from a kidnapping into an assassination, the Herald reported.
“The assassination of President Jovenel Moïse was a horrific attack, and we remain fully committed to working shoulder to shoulder with our partners to further expose the criminal network behind it, identify every individual who played a role, and ensure that the last person responsible is brought to justice,” Quinones said in a Sunday social media post.