Published on : 22/04/2022 – 06:19
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez is now in the hands of American justice. The man was extradited to the United States on Thursday April 21 from the country he still ruled six months ago. He is accused of having participated in a vast cocaine traffic.
With our correspondent in Washington, Guillaume Naudin.
Juan Orlando Hernandez left his country handcuffed and escorted in front of the cameras on a plane belonging to the American anti-drug agency DEA. Direction New York to be tried for drug trafficking. The prosecutor for the southern district of Manhattan accuses him of his participation in a traffic which allowed 500 tons of cocaine to be smuggled into the United States between 2004 and 2022.
Narco-State
During a press conference, organized this April 21, the American Minister of Justice, Merrick Garland, accuses him of having abused his position as President of Honduras since 2014 to make his country function as a narco-state . American justice also accuses him of having received bribes for millions of dollars, in particular from the famous El Chapo, leader of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico.
The fall was quick for Juan Orlando Hernandez. Initially an ally of the United States under Donald Trump, in particular to fight once morest drug trafficking and curb migration, he ceded power at the end of January 2022 to the left-wing president, Xiomara Castro, before being arrested for three weeks. later.
The extradition of former President Hernandez shows that the functioning of Honduran institutions, and in particular the justice system, is not as efficient as it should be. How is it possible that US authorities can investigate Juan Orlanda Hernandez? And the Honduran authorities for their part have not denied any of the charges brought once morest the former president. The United States sends a very clear message: they are ready to attack Juan Orlando Hernandez directly, responsible according to them for having transformed Honduras into a narco-state.
Victor Mesa, former Minister of the Interior
Revenge of the cartels?
He denounces a conspiracy and revenge of the cartels. He faces life imprisonment. Sentence to which his brother, former MP Tony Hernandez, has already been sentenced by the same court for similar facts. The former head of the national police between 2012 and 2013, Juan Carlos “Tigre” Bonilla, arrested on March 9 will also be extradited soon, prosecuted by the same court for having “supervised” the operations.
► Read also: Honduras: justice authorizes the extradition of ex-president Hernandez to the United States
