The U.S. government on Thursday filed a lawsuit against former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez for involvement in cocaine smuggling and other gun-related offenses, and was extradited to the United States to January 2022. State prosecutors in Manhattan claim that Hernandez received millions of dollars from drug trafficking organizations, including former ones the leader of the Sinaloa faction in Mexico, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, also used the funds to enrich himself and support his political campaigns.
In exchange, Hernandez and other Honduran officials provided drug traffickers with protection from investigation and detention, provided them with legal access to military information, and banned their deportation to the United States, according to the lawsuit. Hernandez abused his position as president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022 to use the country as a narco-state, “U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters in Washington.”
Prosecutors revealed drug trafficking
Hernandez was a key partner in the United States during the Obama and Trump administration regarding immigration and anti-drug activities. But U.S. prosecutors revealed in court last year that Hernandez, 53, was being investigated as part of an ongoing investigation into drug trafficking in Honduras. President Joe Biden has focused on fighting corruption in Central America since taking office in January 2021, with the aim of ending the wave of migrants from the region to the United States. Hernandez’s younger brother, Tony Hernandez, a former Honduran Congressman, was sentenced to life in prison in the United States in March 2021 after being found guilty of drug trafficking. The former president denied the allegations and said that his traffickers had anointed him to avenge himself on his government and to reduce his sentence. But he is committed to working with the authorities and presenting himself as an anti-drug trafficker.
Former president arrested
In Honduran’s capital, Tegucigalpa, the former president was arrested and escorted by security guards to the airport. Near the airport, a large crowd gathered to fly the blue and white national flag to celebrate Hernandez’s release. Hernandez boarded a US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) flight Thursday afternoon and was expected to appear for the first time in a Manhattan regional court days to come.
“If you turn the power of the state into a violent drug dealer, if you allow violence and murder to flourish in the hands of organizations, the DEA will stop anything to blame you,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram told reporters. The case was reopened in January 27 the day Hernandez was replaced by defender Xiomara Castro following his November victory over Nasry Asfura, Hernandez’s running mate in the National Party but not until Thursday. The U.S. Department of Justice often avoids blaming the sitting heads of state. “New Honduran authorities want our help,” Garland said. “There is no conflict between us doing this kind of work and having good relations in Latin America.”
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