A FORMER Colombian military officer has been charged in the U.S. in connection with the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise last July.

Mario Antonio Palacios, 43, is accused of having “participated in a plot to kidnap or kill the Haitian president,” the U.S. justice department said.

He appeared at a Miami court Tuesday to hear the charges against him.

Moise was shot dead July 7 by gunmen who stormed his residence in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.

While several arrests have been made in Haiti in connection with the killing, Palacios is the first suspect to face charges.

In a statement Tuesday, the U.S. justice department said a complaint was filed in the state of Florida accusing Palacios, along with a group of about 20 other Colombian nationals and dual Haitian-American citizens, of “conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping” outside the U.S.

It said the group was alleged to have “initially focused on conducting a kidnapping,” but that it “ultimately resulted in a plot to kill” Moise.

“Palacios and others entered the president’s residence in Haiti with the intent and purpose of killing President Moise, and in fact the president was killed,” the statement said.

Palacios was recently arrested during a stopover in Panama after being deported to Colombia from Jamaica. He agreed to travel to the U.S., which had issued an Interpol red notice requesting his arrest.

He is now in U.S. custody and, if convicted of the charges, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Previous suspects detained were also former members of the Colombian military, many of whom said they were hired to provide “security services” in Haiti and were not told about a plan to kill the president.

The investigation into the murder of Moise, who was 53, has been slow and has been further set back by the resignations of key officials.

Investigators have also reported receiving death threats and being intimidated.(SD-Agencies)