Tegucigalpa, Honduras - Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was arrested on Tuesday at the request of the U.S. government on charges of drug trafficking, using weapons for drug trafficking and conspiracy to use weapons in drug trafficking. Hernández was scheduled to make his initial court appearance in Tegucigalpa on Wednesday.
He was handcuffed and paraded before the cameras like a common criminal, a striking reversal for a man who for years seemed resistant to allegations of corruption. Less than three weeks out of office, the U.S. government moved for his extradition and the chance to make him an example in a region wracked by corruption.
U.S. prosecutors in the Southern District of New York have accused Hernández in recent years of funding his political rise with profits from drug traffickers in exchange for protecting their shipments.
Popular discontent with his government grew in Honduras. There weren’t enough jobs, street gangs controlled entire towns and neighbourhoods, drought and hurricanes hit swaths of the country.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, who had pushed for sanctions against Hernández, said in a statement, “It was completely unacceptable that the U.S. government was supporting former President Hernández despite his extensive ties to narco-trafficking, including an alleged pattern of using campaign funds and taxpayer resources to protect and facilitate drug shipments to the United States.”
Xiomara Castro’s won the elections last November, with the help of timely alliances, intended on punishing Hernández and his National Party.
-AP