Palacios was a
Baptist pastor in
El Salvador during the Salvadoran Civil War. He was pastor of Shalom Baptist Church in San Salvador. In this capacity, he helped found the National Council of Churches in El Salvador, of which he served as the Executive Director for three years There they founded the Permanent Commission of the National Debate for Peace, from which they continued their peace activism. Their activism took many forms, including testifying to the
House Committee on Foreign Affairs on February 6, 1990. According to
Amnesty International, Palacios, among other church leaders, was targeted for "termination" by a
death squad led by
Roberto D'Aubuisson. When the peace agreement was signed in 1992, the Palacios were present at the signing of the peace accords at the United Nations. In 2012, the
Baptist World Alliance awarded Palacios their Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award. On September 3, 2016, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, Hugo Martinez announced that Palacios had been appointed as Ambassador of El Salvador to the Government of Canada, replacing Professor Oscar Mauricio Duarte. ==Pastoral positions==