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U.S. arrests, charges suspect in Haitian president slaying

The Columbian
Published: January 4, 2022, 2:30pm

MIAMI — The U.S. government announced Tuesday that it charged one of the suspects in the killing of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse as it unsealed a complaint that revealed federal authorities had interviewed him several months ago while he was hiding in Jamaica.

Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, a 43-year-old former Colombian soldier, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States and with providing material support resulting in death, knowing that such support would be used to prepare for or carry out the conspiracy to kill or kidnap.

He appeared at a federal court in Miami on Tuesday afternoon but did not enter a plea. Palacios, who was wearing jeans and a gray T-shirt and had his hands and feet shackled, told the judge he wanted to be appointed an attorney. After responding to questions related to his income and property, including that he owned a house in Cali, Colombia, and received a nearly $370 army pension, he was granted counsel based on limited income.

Court-appointed attorney Alfredo Izaguirre told U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia Otazo-Reyes that he recommended Palacios stay in detention because he has no immigration status, relatives or ties to the United States.

Palacios is scheduled to appear in court again on Jan. 31. Izaguirre said his client would plead not guilty at the preliminary hearing.

A complaint unsealed Tuesday states that Palacios spoke voluntarily with U.S. authorities in October and told them that he was hired to travel to Haiti to provide security and participate in an alleged operation to arrest the president. He said that the initial plan was for co-conspirators to don black hoodies, capture Moïse at the airport in June and take him away by plane. Palacios then said that unnamed co-conspirators told him as early as July 6, a day before the killing, about the plan to assassinate Moïse.

Palacios was arrested in Jamaica in October and was scheduled to fly to his native Colombia on Monday. However, Interpol notified Palacios during a stopover that the U.S. government was extraditing him, said Gen. Jorge Luis Vargas, director of Colombia’s police.

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