MARIO Antonio Palacios Palacios, the Colombian who is wanted in Haiti after being linked to the July 7, 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, was deported to his home country on Monday based on a Supreme Court ruling last Friday which thwarted plans by the Jamaican Government to send him to the United States.

Up to late yesterday there was no official word from the Government on the deportation of the ex-Colombian army officer, who has been described as a key suspect in the assassination of Moïse.

But Jamaica Observer sources said he left the island on a mid-morning flight with no indication if it was a chartered or commercial flight.

Last Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that authorities here should enforce an order signed by National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang for Palacios to be deported.

Palacios was arrested in Jamaica on October 11 and convicted of illegally entering the island. He was fined $8,000 or five days in prison and ordered deported.

But before the deportation order was executed, local authorities discovered that Palacios was allegedly linked to the killing of Moïse, who was beaten and shot multiple times inside his private residence, reportedly by 28 mercenaries — 26 of them Colombians.

Since then there has been a diplomatic stand-off involving Jamaica, Colombia, and Haiti over who should get custody of the alleged mercenary.

With no extradition treaty in place between Jamaica and either of the two countries, Colombia argued that Palacios should be deported to his home country, while the Haitians were adamant that he should be extradited to Port-au-Prince where an international wanted bulletin had been issued for him.

But, in a surprise move, Government sources indicated that the US was the most likely destination for Palacios, who was in a maximum security facility locally.

“There has been the sharing of diplomatic notes from Haiti and Colombia requesting that Palacios be turned over to them, but a formal extradition request has now come from the US and it seems he could be on his way to that country in short order,” a Government source said.

According to the source, it would be less of a diplomatic headache if Palacios was extradited to the US than if Jamaica had to make a choice between Haiti and Colombia.

Palacios is reportedly wanted by security agencies in the US to answer to gun charges.