Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was arrested on Tuesday, following an extradition request from the United States on drug trafficking and weapons charges.
Live national television footage showed the former president being escorted by armed officials from his home in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, just weeks after stepping down as president.
Before being driven away, Hernandez was perp-walked in front of journalists and seated at a table where doctors publicly performed a medical examination on him.
The former President was made to wear a bulletproof vest, and police officers placed a chain between his handcuffed wrists and ankles.
Around a hundred people gathered outside Hernandez’s residence with banners and fireworks celebrating his detention. The former US ally had served as the Honduran President for eight years, from 2014 to 2022, before stepping down in late January.
According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Hernandez had been placed on a blacklist since last year, which denied him entry to the US for “corrupt or anti-democratic actions.”
Secretary Blinken also said that there were credible reports of Hernandez engaging in “significant corruption by committing or facilitating acts of corruption and narco-trafficking”.
The US Embassy in Honduras released a document on Tuesday showing that the former president was accused by US prosecutors of playing a “leadership role in a violent drug-trafficking conspiracy” between 2004 and 2022.
Hernandez allegedly received 500 tons of cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela, which was to be shipped to the United States via Honduras.
The document additionally states that the former President was bribed with millions of dollars in exchange for protecting traffickers involved in the operation from investigation and prosecution.
Hernandez has denied any wrongdoing.
“I’m ready to present myself voluntarily and defend myself in accordance with the law,” he said in a message on Facebook.
Honduras’ Supreme Court convened on Tuesday and appointed a judge to oversee the case.
The drug trafficking conspiracy charge carries a sentence of 10 years to life.
Writer: Julianna Lozada
Photo Credits: El País