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The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, is transferred this April 21 on a DEA plane to the United States, where he must face the crime of drug trafficking charged by a federal court. Prosecutors say they have evidence that with his brother ‘Tony’ Hernández, convicted in the United States, he made Honduras a “narco-state.”
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, JOH as he is known, is extradited to the United States on April 21. The operation, in which about 1,000 troops participate, was delayed due to the arrival of the plane from the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, DEA.
Before his extradition, the former president underwent physical examinations, including a Covid-19 test. According to the results, Hernández is in good health, despite the hypertension that afflicts the 53-year-old politician.
Hernández, who was president between 2014 and 2022, faces drug trafficking charges, was detained in a prison of the Special Forces of the National Police, known as Los Cobras, since February 15, the day he was captured at the request of the US government as a preventive measure.
The former president could face life in prison for the crimes he is accused of. The United States prosecutors assure in a document that even before he was president, between 2004 and 2022, “Hernández participated in the violent drug trafficking conspiracy to receive shipments of multiple tons of cocaine”, and that “approximately 500,000 kilograms of cocaine” were transported. cocaine through Honduras bound for the United States”
Defense speaks of conspiracy
JOH’s extradition, ratified by 15 magistrates of the Honduran Supreme Court of Justice at the end of March, is “revenge on the drug traffickers that he himself extradited or forced to flee to the United States,” his family said in a statement. who insisted on Hernández’s innocence.
The former president argues that his arrest is a trap set by the drug lords that his government extradited and who seek agreements with the US prosecutor’s office to reduce their sentences “and based on lies, accuse the former president of committing acts that violate the law of that country,” according to his relatives, who announced that they had hired lawyers Raymond Colón and Daniel Pérez in New York to advance Hernández’s defense.
In fact, when he was president of Honduras, he showed results in the fight against drug trafficking and made drug seizures that were praised by Washington. When he was re-elected president in 2017, the United States was one of the first to greet his victory, despite accusations of electoral fraud against him.
a family story
JOH’s brother, former deputy Juan Antonio ‘Tony’ Hernández, was sentenced to life in prison in March of this year for drug trafficking and accused of manufacturing cocaine on which he put his initials “TH”.
At ‘Tony’s’ trial, prosecutors said he operated with his brother and with government institutions and that Honduras had become a “narco-state.”
Hernández, who left power on January 27, 2022, was included in the State Department’s list of corrupt characters and later requested his extradition.
Another affected by the investigation is the former head of the National Police between 2012 and 2013, Juan Carlos ‘El Tigre’ Bonilla, who is accused of “supervising” the drug trafficking operations of the former president. The full Supreme Court of Justice approved his extradition on April 21, according to a message posted on Twitter.
According to the prosecutor, Geoffrey Berman, Bonilla played a “key role in an international drug trafficking conspiracy” together with ‘Tony’ Hernández and JOH.
According to the prosecution, he committed two crimes of drug trafficking and use of weapons, for which he could also face a maximum of life imprisonment.
With EFE and AFP
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