BROOKLYN, NY– A former member of the Colombian military is due to appear in a Federal Court here on charges linked to the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise on July 7 last year.
Media outlets, including the Miami Herald and Reuters news agency, said that Mario Antonio Palacios, 43, was arrested in Panama on Monday after being deported from Jamaica.
The Jamaican government had issued a deportation order for illegally entering the country, but the island nation has no formal extradition treaty with Haiti, where Palacios is wanted.
The deportation order, dated November 24, was signed by Minister of National Security Dr. Horace Chang, who declared the Colombian an “undesirable person.”
Palacios was detained during a stopover in Panama and asked to “voluntarily” board a flight to the US; a Colombian immigration source told Reuters. Haiti has also issued an Interpol red notice for Palacios.
Haitian authorities have claimed that the former Colombian military officer was involved in the assassination of the 53-year-old Moise, who was shot at his private residence overlooking the capital. His wife, Martine, was also injured and had to seek medical treatment in the United States.
Haitian authorities have arrested at least 45 people connected with the murder, most of whom were former Colombian military officials. But no one has been formally charged in connection with the assassination.
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