Juan Orlando Hernandez is suspected of being the accomplice of his brother, Antonio, sentenced to the United States to the life prison for drug trafficking. The former head of state rejects all the accusations.
Le Monde with AFP
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez (2014-2022), who is the subject of an arrest warrant after an extradition request from the United States who accuse him of drug trafficking. Tuesday, February 15, to the police in Tegucigalpa, found a photographer from the France-Press agency (AFP).
Opening of blue, the former head of state came out of his residence, located in the Honduran capital. It was immediately equipped with a bulletproof vest and chained with the cuffs and ankles by the police to be taken in front of a judge. Mr. Hernandez’s home was surrounded by about 600 policemen since Monday night, when Washington’s extradition request was transmitted to Honduran justice.
Shortly before, a judge of the Supreme Court of Honduras had issued an arrest warrant against the former head of state. The judge was responsible for deciding whether he issued an arrest warrant, and he was issued, “said the spokesman for the Supreme Court, Melvin Duarte, at a press conference.
On the American list of corruption accused
m. Hernandez, aged 53, usually appointed by his initials “Joh”, left power at the end of two mandates at the head of Honduras. It was replaced on January 27 to the Presidency by its left rival Xiomara Castro. His younger brother and former MP, Antonio Hernandez, “said” Tony “, was sentenced in March 2021 to the United States at the Life Prison for drug trafficking. New York Prosecutors (Northeastern United States) suspect “Joh” to be his accomplice.
“I am ready and willing to collaborate and to voluntarily [to meet] the judge who will be appointed by the honorable Supreme Court, so that I can cope with this situation and defend myself,” said, In the morning, the former president in an audio message. The latter rejects all the charges against him and claims to have arrested and deliver to the United States many narcoturals.
In Honduras, Joh is also accused by his corruption political opponents in the framework of infrastructure contracts and supplies to fight the pandemic due at SARS-COV-2. The leader of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, had revealed on February 7 that Mr. Hernandez was, since the 1st July 2021, on a list of persons accused by the United States of corruption or reaches to democracy in Central America.