Ex-President of Honduras Extradited to the US for Drug Charges

By IndraStra Global News Team

Cover Image Attribute: Hernández was transferred to his extradition flight under heavy guard on April 21, 2022, Location: Coronel Hernan Acosta Mejia airforce base / Source: REUTERS

On April 21, 2022, Juan Orlando Hernández, a former president of Honduras, was extradited to the United States to face charges of assisting in importing hundreds of tons of cocaine to America and accepting millions of dollars in bribes.

The 53-year-old, whose presidency from 2014 to 2022 was dogged by corruption allegations, faces the possibility of serving the remainder of his life in prison if convicted.

Hernández departed from Coronel Hernan Acosta Mejia airforce base on a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) plane bound for the United States. He is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron in the Southern District Court of New York on Friday.

Hernández is charged with facilitating the shipment of around 500 tons of cocaine – primarily from Colombia and Venezuela – into the United States via Honduras since 2004, well before assuming office.

According to a US Embassy memo, he allegedly collected "millions of dollars in bribes... from several narcotrafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico, and other countries."

Hernandez was charged with three counts of narcotics and firearms offenses in a New York indictment.

"Hernández exploited his position as Honduras' President... to run the country like a narco-state," US Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters.

Hernández surrendered to authorities on February 15, less than three weeks after leaving office following the elections. A warrant for Hernández's arrest was issued at Washington's request.

He was later detained in the capital Tegucigalpa at a police special forces facility.

Throughout his term, Hernández portrayed himself as an ally of the US war on drugs, assisting in the extradition of various narcotics kingpins.

Washington even backed his 2017 re-election despite a constitutional term limit and allegations of voter fraud.

However, some drug traffickers have since admitted to paying bribes to members of the president's inner circle. By the time Hernándezleft office, US narcotics enforcers were prepared to move against him.

Prosecutors in the United States allege that the previous president transformed Honduras into a "narco-state" by entangling the military, police, and citizens in drug trafficking to the United States.

He is accused of receiving millions of dollars from a variety of drug trafficking organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel's former leader, El Chapo. Garland added that drug traffickers in Honduras were "free to operate with virtual impunity."

Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez, an alleged Hernández collaborator, was sentenced to life in prison and a $151.7 million fine in the United States in February for allegedly transporting tons of cocaine with the assistance of the ex-president.

And in March 2021, his brother, former Congressman Tony Hernández, was sentenced to life in prison in the United States for drug trafficking offenses in which Juan Orlando Hernández was said to have been a co-conspirator.

This month, a judge allowed the extradition of former national police commander Juan Carlos Bonilla to the United States on charges of supervising Hernandez's drug trafficking activities.

Hernández resigned on January 27 following the election of socialist Xiomara Castro as president of this country, with a poverty rate of at least 60% among its ten million residents.

On March 28, the Honduran Supreme Court ratified Hernández's extradition. The 15-member court consists entirely of judges selected during Hernández's first tenure. The former president's family issued a statement protesting his "innocence" and claiming he was a "victim of vengeance by the drug dealers he extradited or pushed to flee to the United States."

According to relatives, these individuals allegedly fabricated information about Hernández to have their sentences lowered.

NOTE: 

Hernández is charged with three counts: 

(1) conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; 

(2) using and carrying machine guns and destructive devices during, and possessing machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of, the cocaine-importation conspiracy, which has a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; and 

(3) conspiring to use and carry machine guns and destructive devices during and to possess machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of the cocaine importation conspiracy, which has a maximum sentence of life in prison.  

For more details on indictment and charges, click here.

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