According to US prosecutors handling the case in New York, the former president received millions of dollars in bribes and profits from multiple drug trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico and elsewhere.
A Tegucigalpa judge granted this Wednesday the extradition to the United States of the former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández (2014-2022), claimed to be processed by drug trafficking and illegal use of weapons.
“First Instance Extradition Judge resolves: grant extradition request sent by the Court of the Southern District of New York for former President of the Republic Juan Orlando Hernndez Alvarado,” the Supreme Court of Justice reported on Twitter.
The decision can still be appealed within the next three days, Judiciary spokesman Melvin Duarte said. In that case, the full magistrates of the Supreme Court will have the final say.
In the extradition request, the United States accused Hernndez of crimes such as “conspiracy (…) to import controlled substance” and “possessing firearms, including machine guns and destructive devices, in support of the conspiracy to import narcotics.”
According to the request, between 2004 and 2022 “Hernandez participated in the violent drug conspiracy to receive shipments of multiple tons of cocaine sent to Honduras from Colombia and Venezuela, among other places, by air and sea routes.
“The conspiracy transported more than approximately 500,000 kilograms of cocaine through Honduras to the United States,” he adds.
According to the US prosecutors handling the case in New York, the former president received million dollars for bribes and profits from multiple drug trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico and elsewhere.
“In exchange for this, Hernández protected drug traffickers from investigation, arrest and extradition,” he explains.
In 2013 “Hernandez accepted approximately US$1,000,000 in drug proceeds from Joaqun Guzman Loera, alias “El Chapo”, adds the document.
New York prosecutors linked the former president to drug trafficking during the trial against his brother, former deputy “Tony” Hernandez, who was sentenced in March 2021 to life imprisonment for that crime.
JOH, as he is known by the initials of his name, is a 53-year-old right-wing lawyer, who left office on January 27 to the leftist Xiomara Castro
He was president for eight years and before that he led Parliament, in positions where he showed loyalty to the United States in the fight against drug trafficking.
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