Ex-Honduran leader arrested in U.S. case
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Police arrested former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez at his home Tuesday, after a request by the United States government for his extradition on drug trafficking and weapons charges.
The arrest came less than three weeks after Hernandez left office and followed years of allegations by U.S. prosecutors regarding links to drug traffickers.
The Supreme Court of Justice had designated a judge Tuesday morning to handle the case and hours later the judge signed an order for Hernandez’s arrest, said court spokesman Melvin Duarte. The security ministry moved quickly to take him into custody.
Honduran Security Minister Ramon Sabillon, who was fired by Hernandez as head of the National Police in 2014, said Hernandez had conspired “with cartels to traffic [drugs] and corrupt many public institutions, which led to social deterioration and undermined the application of justice in Honduras.”
He said the main charges Hernandez faces in the U.S. are drug trafficking, using weapons for drug trafficking and conspiracy to use weapons in drug trafficking.
U.S. prosecutors had repeatedly implicated Hernandez as a co-conspirator during his brother’s 2019 drug trafficking trial, alleging that his political rise was fueled by drug profits.
His brother, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison on drug and weapons charges in March 2021. At his sentencing Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Laroche characterized the crimes as “state-sponsored drug trafficking.”
Hernandez released an audio recording via Twitter early Tuesday saying he was “ready and prepared to cooperate and go voluntarily … to face this situation and defend myself” if an arrest order was issued.
Hernandez got support from the Trump administration but has been kept at arm’s length by the Biden White House, which has targeted Central America’s corruption as a cause of migration.
Last year, U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy was one of a dozen senators who supported a bill that sought to isolate Hernandez by imposing sanctions on him and prohibiting the export of tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets that Honduran security forces deployed in recent years against protesters.
“Throughout the past eight years of decay, depravity, and impunity, successive U.S. administrations sullied our reputation by treating Hernandez as a friend and partner,” Leahy said in a statement Tuesday.
“By making excuse after excuse for a government that had no legitimacy and that functioned as a criminal enterprise, U.S. officials lost sight of what we stand for and that our real partners are the Honduran people.”
Hernandez left office Jan. 27 with the swearing in of President Xiomara Castro. The same day, he was sworn in as Honduras’ representative to the Central American Parliament.
One of his lawyers, Hermes Ramirez, told local media that his client had immunity as a member of the regional parliament and said government forces were not following proper procedures.
As part of his defense, Hernandez often pointed to the fact that Honduras began allowing the extradition of its citizens on drug trafficking charges while he was president of the Congress.
U.S. prosecutors have alleged that he was taking bribes from drug traffickers on the promise of protecting them once he was president.