Colombian Involved in Moise Assassination Is Brought to Miami

Former Colombian military officer Mario Antonio Palacios, who is involved in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, asked to speak with U.S. authorities after he fled to Jamaica.

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In Oct. 2021, Palacios made a voluntary statement to U.S. authorities regarding what happened in Port-au-Prince on July 7. The mercenary holds that he was hired to provide security in an operation whose members initially sought only to "capture" Moise at the airport and take him out of the country on a plane.

On July 6, however, he was informed that the new plan was to assassinate the Haitian president. These statements appear in documents released to the public by Alicia Otazo-Reyes, a federal judge for the Southern District of Florida.

On Monday, U.S. authorities transferred the Colombian mercenary from Panama to Miami, where he faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping and for providing material support for an action that resulted in death. If Palacios is found guilty, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The South Florida Prosecutor knows that the plot to assassinate the Haitian president had the participation of some 25 mercenaries, most of whom have Colombian nationality and had belonged to the army of the South American country.

Palacio and an accomplice named “Conspirator Number One” traveled to the U.S. on June 28, 2021, to “provide other people with a written request for assistance to further the plot against Moise.” Conspirator Number One is a Haitian-American citizen and remains arrested in Haiti.

At the hearing held on Tuesday, the South Florida Prosecutor asked Judge Otazo-Reyes to keep Palacios in detention because he committed a serious crime and is a "danger to the community."