Former Honduran president extradited to U.S. to face drug, weapons charges

Honduras extradited its former president Juan Orlando Hernandez to the US on Thursday to face drug trafficking and weapons expenses in a dramatic reversal for a frontrunner as soon as touted by U.S. authorities as a key ally within the battle on the medicine.

Simply three months after leaving workplace, a handcuffed Hernandez boarded an airplane with brokers from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sure for the US, the place he faces expenses within the Southern District of New York.

U.S. Legal professional Normal Merrick Garland stated Hernandez “abused his place as president of Honduras from 2014 by 2022 to function the nation as a narco-state.”

In court docket paperwork, U.S. prosecutors alleged Hernandez was concerned in a “corrupt and violent drug-trafficking conspiracy” that moved greater than 550 tons (or over 1.2 million kilos) of cocaine to the US. He was charged with taking part in a drug trafficking conspiracy, possession of machine weapons and harmful gadgets and conspiracy to own machine weapons and harmful gadgets.

Prosecutors cost that Hernandez acquired hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from drug cartels, together with from infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. They allege he used the cash to finance his political campaigns and engaged in voter fraud within the 2013 and 2017 Honduran presidential elections.

“In return, drug traffickers in Honduras have been allowed to function with digital impunity,” Garland stated. “We allege that Hernandez corrupted reliable public establishments within the nation — together with components of the nationwide police, navy and nationwide Congress.”

Hernandez was arrested at his residence in Tegucigalpa in February on the request of U.S. authorities. He was shackled and paraded in entrance of journalists, a sight many Hondurans by no means imagined seeing.

Honduran officers have stated the three expenses Hernandez will face within the U.S. are conspiracy to import and distribute medicine to the US, utilizing firearms in assist of a drug trafficking conspiracy and conspiracy to make use of firearms in assist of drug trafficking.

‘I’m harmless’

Honduras’ Supreme Court docket rejected his attraction of a decide’s determination in favour of extradition.

U.S. prosecutors have accused Hernandez of fuelling his political rise with cash from drug traffickers. The funds have been made in alternate for Honduran authorities permitting them to function or for data permitting them to evade interdiction.

Hernandez has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. In a video message launched Thursday, he stated, “I’m harmless; I’ve been and I’m being unjustly subjected to prosecution.”

He has stated he’s the sufferer of drug traffickers he extradited who at the moment are mendacity to hunt revenge.

Henry Osorto Canales, a retired Nationwide Police commissioner who’s now an analyst, stated that whereas the extradition was a humiliation for Honduras, it was additionally a historic day.

“It is a begin as a result of it has begun with the biggest political piece that the nation had and logically the remainder of the items are going to fall, at the very least these closest (to Hernandez),” Canales stated.

U.S. prosecutors have spent years constructing instances from low-level drug traffickers and native politicians to organized crime bosses who used their political connections and ties to drug trafficking cartels in Colombia and Mexico to maneuver tons of cocaine to the US. A lot of them testified about making funds to Hernandez or considered one of his brothers, additionally a politician.

Hernandez’s brother Tony Hernandez, a former congressman, was sentenced to life in jail in the identical U.S. court docket on basically the identical expenses.

Juan Orlando Hernandez took workplace in January 2014 and held the presidency till this January, when Xiomara Castro was sworn in as his substitute. Castro campaigned on rooting out Honduras’ corruption and Hernandez was seen as the biggest goal.

Hernandez’s transport through helicopter below heavy guard from the police base the place he was held to the airport Thursday was lined dwell by native tv retailers.

Some Hondurans stood outdoors the airport’s perimeter fence to catch a glimpse of the previous president boarding the aircraft with U.S. authorities.