(Reuters) – U.S. authorities yesterday charged a Colombian man with conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States in connection with the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, the first official charges in the brazen crime.
Haiti has arrested dozens of people following the July murder that left a political vacuum in the Caribbean nation. But it has not charged anyone, and the investigation has drawn complaints in that country about delays and intimidation of officials.
The U.S. Justice Department said in a statement that Mario Palacios, a former Colombian military officer, was part of a conspiracy that first planned to kidnap Moise but evolved into an assassination plot after conspirators were unable to find a plane to take the president out of Haiti.
“The complaint affidavit alleges that, on July 7, 2021, Palacios and others entered the president’s residence in Haiti with the intent and purpose of killing President Moise, and in fact the president was killed,” the Justice Department said in the statement.
Palacios was also charged with “providing material support resulting in death.”
One member of the conspiracy, a Haitian-American man it described as “Co-conspirator #1,” traveled to the United States in late June to request assistance to further the plot,” according to the statement.
Palacios yesterday afternoon made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Miami, dressed in civilian clothing with handcuffs on his wrists that were linked to a chain around his waist.
Palacios, speaking in Spanish, told the court via an interpreter that he does not know anyone in the United States and that his only income is a Colombian military pension worth the equivalent of around $375 a month.
Palacios was part of a five-man group known as the “Delta Team” that entered Moise’s bedroom to gun him down, according to an August report by the Haitian National Police on the murder. The other four members of that group are in Haitian custody.
“Prime Minister Ariel Henry wants justice to prevail in the villainous assassination of Jovenel Moise,” a spokesman for the prime minister’s office said when asked earlier about the arrest.
Palacios was detained in Jamaica in October and was being deported to Colombia on Monday. During a layover in Panama, he agreed to travel to the United States instead, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Brazil’s Bolsonaro recovering in hospital from gut blockage linked to 2018 stabbing
SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will not need surgery after being hospitalized for an intestinal obstruction that has now been cleared, his medical team said yesterday.
The blockage was Bolsonaro’s latest complication from a 2018 stabbing.
Sao Paulo’s Vila Nova Star hospital said in a bulletin that Bolsonaro was doing well on a liquid diet and doctors had removed a nasogastric tube that was inserted when he was hospitalized early on Monday.
“The president’s digestive tract is showing signs of recovery,” the bulletin issued by his medical team said. It added that there was still no timeframe for his discharge.
The decision not to operate on Bolsonaro came after he was re-evaluated by his doctor, Antonio Macedo, who was vacationing in the Bahamas and arrived in Sao Paulo on Tuesday morning.
Bolsonaro has undergone a series of emergency operations since being knifed during a campaign event in September 2018.
The Brazilian president said on Twitter on Monday that he started feeling unwell on Sunday after lunch. He had been vacationing in the southern state of Santa Catarina and was urgently taken to Sao Paulo by plane.
Bolsonaro noted it was his second hospitalization “with the same symptoms” in a few months. In July 2021, he was taken to the Vila Nova Star for an intestinal blockage after suffering chronic hiccups.
Bolsonaro has been in power since 2019 and plans to stand for re-election as president in a vote scheduled for October this year.
