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Haitian Rodolphe Jaar was arrested Wednesday upon his arrival in Miami, where he will be charged on Thursday with “criminal charges” related to the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, which occurred on July 7, the Prosecutor’s Office said.
Jaar will be the second person to face an accusation in the United States for the Haitian’s president assassination after Colombian ex-military officer Mario Antonio Palacios was accused of that crime on January 4 in a Miami court.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, “Jaar is in custody of the United States in the Southern District of Florida.”
Jaar, who in the past served a sentence for cocaine trafficking in the U.S. and was a DEA informant, had been arrested a few days ago in the Dominican Republic, where he fled from Haiti, according to press reports.
Meanwhile, Palacios, 43, will have a hearing on January 31 in a Miami court where he will be formally charged with conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States and providing material support that resulted in death.
Authorities still keep Jaar’s file closed to the public, a regular procedure until he is arrested and makes his first appearance in court.
Palacios, who asked to speak to U.S. authorities when he was arrested in Jamaica before being extradited to the U.S., has indicated that the idea was to “capture” President Moise at the airport and take him on a plane.
However, according to court documents, he admitted that around July 6 he was informed that the plans had changed and the mission was to assassinate him.
The ex-military officer was brought to Miami by U.S. authorities on January 3 from Panama, where he was making a stopover.
If convicted of the charges, Palacios faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
“The defendant and others, including a group of approximately 20 other Colombian citizens and a group of Haitian-American dual nationals based in Haiti, participated in a plot to kidnap or kill the Haitian president,” the Prosecutor’s Office said.
He pointed out that with another accomplice identified as conspirator #1, who according to Palacios is one of the leaders of the operation, he traveled to the United States on June 28 “to, among other things, provide other people with a written assistance request to promote the plot related to the Haitian president.”
“Although the plot initially focused on carrying out a kidnapping of the president as part of an alleged arrest operation, it ultimately resulted in a plot to assassinate the Haitian president,” the Prosecutor’s Office pointed out.
The indictment alleges that on July 7, Palacios and others broke into the president’s residence in Haiti with the intention and purpose of assassinating him.
Conspirator #1″ is a dual Haitian-US citizen who was later arrested by Haitian authorities and remains in custody in Haiti, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
