U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents have extradited former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez to New York, where he will face federal drug and arms trafficking.
Honduran National Police handcuffed Hernandez to DEA agents at Tegucigalpa airport just over two months after he was arrested in front of his home on February 15 after a request for extradition from the US Department of Justice.
Juan Orlando Hernandez pictured in 2021 Photo: Andy Buchanan / AFP / Getty Images
Hernandez, 53, resigned on January 27th after two terms as president. Prosecutors in New York’s Southern District have accused him of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from violent drug traffickers in exchange for protection from law enforcement. He is charged with drug trafficking and two related weapons charges, which carry a combined mandatory minimum sentence of 40 years in prison.
Hernandez is expected to plead not guilty to the charge. He has repeatedly denied any involvement with drug traffickers, describing the allegations as lies fabricated by criminals trying to reduce their own sentences through co-operation.
“This is revenge on the cartels, this is an organized conspiracy so that no government will face them again,” he said in a handwritten letter published last month. “Part of this conspiracy is a campaign of hatred and misinformation. But it is obvious that the contradictions of the criminals, the trial after the trial, they lie and contradict each other. “
Considered one of Washington’s best allies in the region during his first term, receiving praise from US officials, including then-Vice President Joe Biden, the Conservative president fell out of favor with Democrats after his dubious re-election in 2017 and growing accusations of drug trafficking following the arrest of his brother, former MP Juan Antonio Tony Hernandez, on the same charges in 2018. Tony Hernandez was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
President Biden shunned Hernandez when he took office last year, but has since embraced Honduras’ new president, center-left Xiomara Castro, who was strongly elected in November in a referendum on the Hernandez administration’s eight scandalous years. Hernandez’s extradition – once untouchable in Honduras – is an early test for the Castro administration, which has come to power with a promise to fight drug trafficking and corruption.
In the last three years, the case that the American authorities are building against Hernandez has become clearer. Prosecutors named Hernandez as an innocent accomplice in the trial against his brother and two subsequent cases, including that of former national police chief Juan Carlos Bonilla.
According to a complaint filed against Bonilla, nicknamed “El Tigre” (Tiger) for his fierce appearance and violent reputation, the former high-ranking cop allegedly defended drug shipments and performed special tasks for the Hernandez brothers, including murder. He was captured on March 9 after nearly a year on the run and is likely to be extradited to New York in May.
Hernandez was protected from prosecution by US authorities because of the Justice Department’s policy of not blaming incumbent presidents. But his arrest warrant was issued within hours of his departure, and a request for his extradition was sent to Honduras three weeks later.
In 2012, as president of the National Congress, Hernandez played a key role in adopting a constitutional reform that would allow Honduran citizens to be extradited to the United States on drug and other trafficking charges. He often cites this as proof of his innocence, saying that someone working for extradition through Congress will not conspire with drug traffickers. Hernandez is the 30th Honduran to be extradited to the United States.
Organized crime has infiltrated politics across Latin America, but Hernandez is the first former president in the region to be extradited to the United States to be charged with drug trafficking.
The case compares to that of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, a general and de facto leader who was extradited to the United States on drug trafficking charges following the December 1989 US military invasion. Like Hernandez, Noriega was accused of double-crossing the DEA. He was convicted and spent almost two decades in prison.
Add Comment