US charges Colombian national with plot to assassinate ex-Haitian president

WASHINGTON

The US charged on Tuesday a Colombian national with allegedly plotting to kill former Haitian President Jovenel Moise, who was assassinated in July in Port-au-Prince.

Mario Antonio Palacios, 43, has been taken into custody and faces multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States, according to the Justice Department.

A criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday says Palacios and over 20 others plotted to kidnap or kill Moise, and says an unnamed co-conspirator traveling to the US on June 28 to hand deliver a written request for additional aid to carry out the plot.

Palacios is accused of being part of a group that entered Moise's home on July 7 intending to kill the Haitian president. Moise was gunned down in his bedroom that night, and his wife, Martine Moise, was injured.

The unnamed co-conspirator was arrested by Haitian officials, and remains in custody there while Palacios escaped the country and traveled to Jamaica from where he was recently deported, according to the Justice Department. Palacios agreed to travel to the US during a layover in Panama, it added.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Following Moise's assassination, tensions have been rising amid criminal gang violence, fuel shortages, increases in food prices and a political vacuum that has plunged the country into political and social turmoil.

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry was attacked by an armed group as he was walking out of a cathedral on Saturday in the city of Gonaives after attending mass. One person died and two were injured in the shootout that broke out as Henry and his entourage were leaving the parish of Saint Charles de Borome.