US extradites second suspect in assassination of Haiti’s President

By Matt Rivers, CNN

The United States has extradited a second suspect in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, who was killed in his bedroom last July.

Rodolphe Jaar is in federal custody and will be presented with the charges on Thursday during his initial court appearance in Miami, a spokesperson for the Southern District of Florida told CNN.

Jaar, who is from Haiti, is one of several suspects that has been at large for months since Moise’s assassination.

Jaar’s extradition to the US follows that of Colombian suspect Mario Palacios, who was extradited earlier this month.

Palacios managed to flee Haiti after Moise’s assassination, eventually ending up in Jamaica, where he was captured by authorities for entering the country illegally. How he escaped Haiti remains unknown.

Palacios has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States “and providing material support resulting in death, knowing or intending that such material support would be used to prepare for or carry out the conspiracy to kill or kidnap,” according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ.)

If convicted of the charges, Palacios faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, according to the DOJ.

Authorities have said that dozens of people were involved in Moise’s death, including 26 Colombians and two Haitian-Americans.

Exactly what happened inside the President’s home and who masterminded the attack remain at the heart of multiple investigations involving senior agents from the US and Colombia, in addition to local authorities.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Jamie Crawford, Florencia Trucco and Mitchell McCluskey contributed reporting.