MIAMI — A former Colombian soldier pleaded guilty on Friday to conspiracy to assassinate the president of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, in 2021, two years after his arrest as one of the main suspects in the assassination, which unleashed an unprecedented wave of violence and a political crisis in the Caribbean nation.
Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, 45, is the fifth of the Miami defendants to plead guilty to charges that include conspiring to kidnap or kill outside the United States and providing material support that resulted in death, knowing that such support would be used to prepare or implement the conspiracy to kidnap or kill.
Moïse was shot 12 in his private home near Port-au-Prince on July 7, 2021. He was 53 years old. His wife, Martine Moïse, was injured in the attack.
“Yes, your honor,” Palacios responded in Spanish when federal judge José E. Martínez asked him if he was pleading guilty, after reading a document in which he admitted his participation in the conspiracy.
The former soldier faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, but pleaded guilty after reaching a plea deal in hopes of getting a lighter sentence.
Life imprisonment
The judge set the sentence for March 1, 2024.
Three defendants have already been sentenced to life imprisonment in the case: Haitian-Chilean businessman Rodolphe Jaar, Colombian soldier Germán Alejandro Rivera García and former Haitian senator John Joel Joseph. A fourth defendant, Haitian-Colombian citizen and former DEA informant Joseph Vincent, pleaded guilty in December and is awaiting sentencing in February 2024.
The trial for the other six defendants is scheduled for May 2024, but has been postponed on several occasions.
According to the accusations, the original plan was to kidnap the president of Haiti, but then changed to kill him.
Since Moïse’s assassination, Haiti has seen a rise in gang violence that has led the prime minister to call for the assistance of an international armed force. The UN Security Council voted in October to send a multinational force led by Kenya, but its deployment has been delayed.
Plot in Haiti and South Florida
Prosecutors allege that participants in the conspiracy hoped to secure contracts with the government that succeeded Moïse and that the plot was hatched in Haiti and South Florida. Some 20 former Colombian soldiers and several Haitian-American citizens, among others, were part of it.
In the brief 15-minute hearing held in the federal courts in downtown Miami, the Colombian looked calm. Dressed in a camisole suit, beige prison pants and with headphones to listen to the Spanish translation, he remained seated next to his lawyer Alfredo Izaguirre.
Through the agreement with the prosecution, Palacios agreed to collaborate in the investigations and the prosecution agreed to consider him as a minor participant in the conspiracy.
“He didn’t know what he was going to get into. It was not part of the plan,” his defense attorney told reporters after the hearing. “He didn’t recruit anyone. He had no authority to make decisions regarding the conspiracy. “I think the government understands that.”
Theft of money and jewelry
According to a document on the facts that is part of the agreement, Palacios served as a security officer who received orders from other Colombians who participated in the conspiracy, among them, the already convicted retired military officer Rivera García.
Nor “was he part of the planning of the operation,” says the two-page document signed by prosecutors and Palacios. However, he was in the Haitian president’s house at the time of the assassination and, before the operation began, “he was told that the president was going to die,” the text indicates.
Other Colombians took money and jewelry from Moïse’s home and Palacios kept part of it.
Jaar and Palacios were among the first defendants brought to the United States to face charges. Authorities said they agreed to come voluntarily.
Palacios was arrested in Jamaica in October 2021.
In Haiti, authorities have arrested more than 40 suspects, including 18 former Colombian soldiers and several high-ranking police officials. At least five judges have been appointed to the case, but several have resigned for various reasons, including fear of being killed.
Source: With information from AP
