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Jamaica to Deport Colombian Wanted in Haiti President Assassination


FILE - A man signs a signature book during a memorial ceremony for late Haitian President Jovenel Moise at the National Pantheon Museum in Port-au-Prince, July 20, 2021. Moise was assassinated on July 7 at his home.
FILE - A man signs a signature book during a memorial ceremony for late Haitian President Jovenel Moise at the National Pantheon Museum in Port-au-Prince, July 20, 2021. Moise was assassinated on July 7 at his home.

A former Colombian military member implicated in last year's assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moise will be deported from Jamaica to his home country on January 3, Jamaica's attorney general said Saturday.

Mario Antonio Palacios, 43, is accused by Haitian authorities of forming part of a mercenary group that assassinated Moise in July during an assault on his private residence, during which his wife also was injured.

Palacios was arrested in Jamaica last October and convicted for illegally entering the country from the Dominican Republic.

Jamaica's 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, a local police spokesman said.

"The information supplied did not link him to the assassination and essentially indicated he was a suspect for attempted armed robbery, without any detail," Marlene Malahoo Forte said in a statement to Reuters.

"Our attempts to get further and better particulars from the Haitian government were unsuccessful."

Lawyers for Palacios have asked for his immediate release from Kingston's Horizon Adult Remand Centre, arguing that his detention is unlawful, she said.

Neither Palacio's lawyers nor Haiti government officials immediately responded to requests for comment.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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