Irvin Echeverria
Staff Writer
Juan Orlando Hernández, a former Honduran President, was detained on Feb. 15 after the U.S. Embassy requested his extradition. The extradition warrant was issued as a result of U.S. authorities charging Hernández with participating in weapons and drug-trafficking from 2004 to 2022.
According to Al-Jazeera, Honduran authorities surrounded Hernández’s residence in the country’s capital of Tegucigalpa on the night of Feb. 14 after the U.S. requested his arrest and eventual extradition earlier that day. The operation to arrest Hernández involved armed personnel consisting of Honduran military and special forces in order to ensure the former president would not try to flee, The Associated Press reported.
Hernández complied with authorities and was taken into custody in chains on the morning of Feb. 15 outside his residence. The former president is currently being held at the Special Forces headquarters in the eastern region of Tegucigalpa as he awaits a judge to hear his case, as reported by Microsoft News.
Hernández’s detainment came three weeks after he left office on Jan. 27 after the swearing in of current President Iris Xiomara Castro, and nearly a year after his brother, former Honduran Congressman Juan Antonio Hernández, was sentenced to life in prison on drug trafficking charges, according to Reuters.
Reuters also reported that Hernández joined the Central American Parliament the same day he left office. The Central American Parliament, a parliamentary body which aims to strategically solve political and economic problems in Central America, grants members immunity from prosecution, unless a member’s home country requests it be removed.
The extradition request contrasts the U.S. government's stance which previously saw Hernández as a critical ally in combating drug-trafficking in Central America throughout his eight years in office. As The Washington Post reported, accusations against Hernández mounted in Washington and U.S. prosecutors charged members of Honduras’s political elite with aiding in drug trafficking, Hernández lost credibility with U.S. authorities.
As of now, Hernández strongly denies all charges brought against him and claims the accusations are part of a revenge plot by the drug traffickers the U.S. has charged and sentenced in recent years.
