The former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernandez (2014-2022), who is the subject of an arrest warrant after an extradition request from the United States which accuses him of drug trafficking, surrendered , Tuesday, February 15, to the police in Tegucigalpa, noted a photographer from Agence France-Presse (AFP).
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 charged “to decide whether he would issue an arrest warrant, and one was issued”Supreme Court spokesman Melvin Duarte said at a press conference.
On the US list of bribery defendants
Mr. Hernandez, aged 53, usually referred to by his initials “JOH”, left power after two terms at the 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 Hernandez, known as “Tony”, 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 voluntarily surrender [pour rencontrer] 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 latter rejects all the charges brought against him and claims to have had many drug traffickers arrested and delivered to the United States.
In Honduras, JOH is also accused by his political opponents of corruption in the context of infrastructure and supply contracts to fight the pandemic due to SARS-CoV-2. 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 attacks on democracy in Central America.