US charges suspect in assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moise
- Colombian ex-soldier Mario Antonio Palacios was arrested in Jamaica and extradited to the United States
- More than a dozen former soldiers are accused in the slaying of Moise, though the Colombian government has said that most of them were duped into taking part
The US government announced on Tuesday that it had arrested one of the main suspects in the killing of Haitian president Jovenel Moise and charged him with conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States.
Mario Antonio Palacios, a 43-year-old former Colombian soldier, also was charged with providing material support resulting in death, knowing or intending that such material 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. He was granted counsel based on limited income and is expected to appear in court again on January 31.
Court-appointed lawyer Alfredo Izaguirre told US 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 was arrested in Jamaica in October and was expected to fly to his native Colombia on Monday. However, Interpol notified Palacios during a stopover in Panama that the US government was extraditing him, said General Jorge Luis Vargas, director of Colombia’s police.
He said that Colombia, Jamaica and the US were in touch to coordinate the deportation and extradition of Palacios to the US.