(Tegucigalpa) Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez (2014-2022), targeted by an arrest warrant after an extradition request from the United States which accuses him of drug trafficking, went to the police in Tegucigalpa, noted an AFP photographer.
Posted yesterday at 4:08 p.m.
Dressed in blue, the former head of state came out of his residence, located in the Honduran capital. He was immediately fitted with a bulletproof vest and chained at the wrists and ankles by the police to be brought before a judge.
Mr. Hernandez’s home had been surrounded by about 600 police since Monday evening, when Washington’s extradition request was sent 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 tasked with “deciding whether to issue an arrest warrant, and one has been issued,” Supreme Court spokesman Melvin Duarte told a news conference.
Mr. Hernandez, 53, usually referred to by his initials JOH, left power after serving two terms as head of Honduras. He was replaced on January 27 as president by his left-wing rival Xiomara Castro.
His younger brother and former deputy, Antonio “Tony” Hernandez, was sentenced in March 2021 in the United States to life in prison for drug trafficking. Prosecutors in New York (northeastern United States) suspect JOH of being his accomplice.
“I am ready and willing to collaborate and surrender voluntarily” to meet “the judge who will be appointed by the Honorable Supreme Court so that I can deal with this situation and defend myself”, had indicated in the morning the former president in an audio message.
The former head of state rejects all the charges brought against him and claims to have had many drug traffickers arrested and delivered to the United States.
In Honduras, Mr. Hernandez is also accused by his political opponents of corruption in the context of infrastructure and supply contracts to fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The head of the American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, had revealed on February 7 that Mr. Hernandez appeared, since the 1er July 2021, on a list of people accused by the United States of corruption or undermining democracy in Central America.