Port-au-Prince — On Sunday, September 20, 2026, a U.S. military aircraft landed at Port-au-Prince International Airport to pick up Joseph Félix Badio and 17 former Colombian soldiers before setting course for Florida. Yet five days earlier, investigating judge Jean Denis Cyprien had signed an order that could not have been clearer to prevent this extradition, according to information revealed by the Haitian media outlet “Passion Info Plus” and confirmed to CTN by a judicial source.
Dated September 15, 2026, this order prohibited the transfer of Joseph Félix Badio and the 17 former Colombian soldiers to the United States without the magistrate’s express authorization. Judge Cyprien had formally instructed the heads of the Haitian National Police (PNH) and the National Penitentiary Administration (APENA) to “give effect to no order aimed at moving the accused detained in this case, when such an order does not come from him.”
The magistrate had also transmitted the document to the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Patrick Pélissier, to the President of the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ), Jean-Joseph Lebrun, and to the Government Commissioner, so that no one could claim ignorance of this instruction.
The order did not withstand reality. On Sunday, the 18 detainees were taken from their cells and handed over to U.S. authorities.
The Course of the Extradition
According to the Miami Herald, a U.S. military aircraft landed at Port-au-Prince airport before 11 a.m. on Sunday, September 20, to pick up Badio and the 17 Colombians. Confusion initially surrounded Badio’s presence on the flight: although he had left prison at the same time as the Colombians, Haitian authorities initially refused to hand him over, considering him a key piece of the local investigation.
A few moments later, his name nevertheless appeared on the flight manifest obtained by the American daily, alongside those of the Colombians. All boarded wearing blue uniforms aboard the gray military aircraft. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jason A. Reding Quiñones, confirmed the extradition on X: “18 people left Haiti aboard a military aircraft and will answer before American justice in the Southern District of Florida.”
“Today begins the next important stage of accountability,” said Mr. Quiñones. “Our work did not stop with those who planned and executed this assassination. We will follow the evidence to the financiers, the facilitators, the supporters, and those who committed crimes to make this possible. Five years later, we continue to bring defendants before American courts, and we are not finished.”
To date, 30 people have been formally charged for their participation in the assassination.
Joseph Félix Badio, from Key Witness to Central Defendant
Joseph Félix Badio, 63, a former official at the Haitian Ministry of Justice, is considered by many observers to be the central figure in the plot. During the federal trial in Miami of four residents of southern Florida, his name came up repeatedly in testimony and evidence.
Text messages presented at the hearing show that Badio played a determining role in the shift from a plan to “kidnap and depose” Moïse to one of “assassination.” Several witnesses who pleaded guilty stated that Badio was in the mountain house where the former Colombian soldiers had gathered on the night they stormed the president’s private residence. According to one witness, it was Badio who gave the signal for the commando to descend.
Badio is also accused of having armed the Colombians and of having told them that a suitcase filled with money was in the upstairs bedroom, while also pointing out the location of two firearms in the house. Jovenel Moïse was ultimately struck by around ten bullets, without having been able to use these high-precision rifles.
Haitian police had arrested him in October 2023 in a supermarket in Pétion-Ville, after more than two years on the run.
Haitian Judicial Sovereignty Undermined
The ignored order from Judge Cyprien raises burning questions about Haiti’s judicial sovereignty and coordination between the two investigations.
Among the 18 transferred, 17 are former Colombian soldiers. Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the transfer of 17 of its nationals from Haiti to the United States, stating that it had “not directly participated in the process.” Bogotá indicated that it would continue to monitor the situation of the detainees to guarantee due process, while refraining from “interfering in the decisions of the competent judicial authorities.”
This extradition places the Haitian investigation in a delicate position. Badio was one of the most important detainees in the Haitian judicial system; his testimony and cooperation were deemed essential to the local investigation. From now on, the Haitian judge can neither continue to question him nor prevent his handover to the Americans.
With the transfer of these 18 people, former Jacmel mayor Macky Kessa is reportedly the only accused still detained in Haiti in this case. No public information currently indicates that the United States has requested his extradition.
The American Judicial Process Accelerates
This extradition comes as Christian Emmanuel Sanon — a resident of southern Florida accused of conspiring to replace Moïse as president — is about to be tried in the United States. His trial was postponed for health reasons; until now he was the last major accused detained in the United States.
In a previous trial, four men from southern Florida — including the owners of a Doral security company that had recruited the former Colombian soldiers to go to Haiti — were found guilty of charges related to the plot. Five people were sentenced to life in prison, and four others were found guilty in May of several charges, including conspiracy to kill or kidnap a Haitian president.
The United States maintains that the plot was hatched in Florida, which justifies the exercise of its jurisdiction.
Samir Handal’s case is also seeing a new development. Arrested in Turkey in 2021 on the basis of an Interpol red notice issued by Haiti, he was released in 2022 after Haiti’s extradition request was rejected. The FBI has just arrested him; he will face new charges in the United States.
The Haitian Investigation Continues, but Slowly
On the Haitian side, Judge Cyprien’s investigation continues, even though his authority and effectiveness are now seriously questioned after the extradition episode. Appointed as a substitute investigating judge by the Port-au-Prince Court of Appeal, Mr. Cyprien has issued several summonses and arrest warrants against political, judicial, and media figures.
Former Justice Minister Rockefeller Vincent, summoned, has been the subject of an arrest warrant for criminal association, assassination, and attempted assassination. Former Court of Cassation judge Windelle Coq Thélot has been targeted by an arrest warrant for complicity. Journalist Jean Monard Métellus, after ignoring several summonses, received a summons on June 24, before finally appearing on August 10 to be questioned.
Former Senator Youri Latortue was questioned on June 23. Former First Lady Martine Moïse was due to appear on June 30. Former President Michel Martelly also appeared on July 20 at Judge Cyprien’s office, for his second questioning in this case.
Five years after the events, Haiti has still not organized a major trial. The extradition carried out by the United States, while it advances American justice, further complicates an already fragile Haitian investigation.
Jovenel Moïse was assassinated on the night of July 7, 2021, in his private residence in Port-au-Prince by an armed commando. He was 53 years old. His death worsened Haiti’s already deep political and security crisis, with the Caribbean nation having held no elections since 2016 and finding itself without a president since the assassination.
