[ad_1]
Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras is the primary Latin American ex-president extradited to the US on drug prices
The previous president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, was flown to the US on Thursday and arrested by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) brokers upon arrival. As soon as an avowed ally of Washington, Hernández has been charged with facilitating the importation of huge portions of cocaine to the US, in addition to two firearms prices.
Following a request by the US Division of Justice, Hernández was arrested by Honduran authorities in February, and his extradition was authorized earlier this month.
Hernández served as president of Honduras from 2014 till January of this yr, however his involvement within the worldwide narcotics commerce predated his presidency, in response to the indictment in opposition to him.
“From a minimum of in or about 2004, as much as and together with in or about 2022, [he] allegedly participated in a corrupt and violent drug-trafficking conspiracy to facilitate the importation of lots of of 1000’s of kilograms of cocaine into the US,” learn an announcement from the Justice Division.
Learn extra
Hernández was allegedly paid by a number of the world’s high drug syndicates, together with the Sinaloa Cartel, to make sure narcotics flowed from South America, by way of Honduras, and into the US. Hernández is accused of utilizing bribes from drug traffickers to finance his political profession, together with his profitable run for the presidency in 2013, and once more in 2017.
Hernández was as soon as an in depth ally of the US, and was praised by then-Vice President Joe Biden throughout his first time period in workplace. He cooperated with the Trump administration in declaring opposition chief Juan Guaido the chief of Venezuela, and was lauded by Trump for “working with the US very carefully” to curb the circulate of migrants to the US’ southern border.
Nonetheless, a case was steadily being constructed in opposition to him, and his brother, Juan Antonio Hernández Alvarado, was extradited to the US in 2018 and convicted of cocaine trafficking by a US decide the next yr. Nonetheless, American authorities waited till Hernández misplaced one other re-election bid this January earlier than transferring to extradite him.
Mockingly, as a member of Honduras’ Nationwide Congress, Hernández helped cross a constitutional reform permitting Honduran nationals to be extradited to the US.
He has just lately cited this, in addition to his supposed work clamping down on organized crime, as proof of his innocence, sustaining that false data given to police by criminals was chargeable for his arrest.
“That is revenge from the cartels, it’s an orchestrated plot in order that no authorities will confront them once more,” he stated in a letter printed final month. “A part of that conspiracy has been a marketing campaign of hate and misinformation.”
If convicted of each the medicine and firearms prices, Hernández faces a compulsory minimal sentence of 40 years in jail.
[ad_2]
Source link