Palacios Pleads Not Guilty to Conspiring to kill Jovenel Moise

Mario Antonio Palacios, 43, pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges by U.S. prosecutors that he conspired to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States in connection with the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

The U.S. Justice Department in January said former Colombian soldier was part of a plan initially designed to kidnap Jovenel that evolved into an assassination plot after conspirators were unable to find a plane to take President Moise out of Haiti.

Palacios' attorney Alfredo Izaguirre in a brief hearing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered the not-guilty plea, and later told reporters that Palacios was not aware of what was being planned.

"He is simply a soldier who was taken from Colombia to Haiti," said Izaguirre outside the courthouse. "This was orchestrated by other people."