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TEGUCIGALPA: Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez was extradited to the USA Thursday to face trial for allegedly aiding the smuggling of tons of of tons of cocaine to America.
The 53-year-old, whose 2014-2022 stint as president was tormented by allegations of corruption, dangers spending the remainder of his life in jail if convicted.
AFP witnessed Hernandez’s departure from an air drive base in Tegucigalpa on a Drug Enforcement Administration airplane destined for the USA.
Hernandez is accused of getting facilitated the smuggling of some 500 tons of cocaine — primarily from Colombia and Venezuela — to the USA through Honduras since 2004, beginning lengthy earlier than his presidency.
In flip, he allegedly acquired “tens of millions of {dollars} in bribes… from a number of narcotrafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico and different locations,” in response to a US Embassy doc.
Not even three weeks after leaving workplace following elections, a warrant was issued for Hernandez’s arrest at Washington’s request, and he surrendered to police on February 15.
He was then held at a police particular forces jail within the capital Tegucigalpa.
Hernandez portrayed himself as an ally of the US struggle on medication throughout his tenure, serving to to extradite a number of narcotics kingpins.
Washington even supported his re-election in 2017 regardless of a constitutional one-term restrict and accusations of voting fraud.
However a number of drug traffickers since advised US prosecutors that they had paid bribes to the president’s interior circle, and by the point he left workplace, US drug enforcers had been prepared to maneuver in opposition to Hernandez.
US prosecutors say the previous president turned Honduras right into a “narco-state” by involving the army, police and civilians in drug trafficking to the USA.
An alleged Hernandez affiliate, Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez, was sentenced in the USA in February to life in jail and a fantastic of $151.7 million for smuggling tons of cocaine with the ex-president’s assist, in response to prosecutors.
And his brother, ex-congressman Tony Hernandez, was given a life sentence in the USA in March 2021 for drug trafficking crimes during which Juan Orlando Hernandez was mentioned to have been a co-conspirator.
This month, a choose licensed the extradition to the USA of former nationwide police chief Juan Carlos Bonilla, accused of working drug trafficking operations for Hernandez.
The previous president denies the allegations in opposition to him.
Hernandez left workplace on January 27 when leftist Xiomara Castro grew to become president of this nation, which has a poverty charge of at the very least 60 p.c amongst its 10 million inhabitants.
On March 28, the 15-member Supreme Courtroom of Honduras — all judges appointed throughout Hernandez’s first time period — ratified his extradition.
In an announcement, the previous president’s household protested his “innocence” and mentioned he was a “sufferer of revenge by the drug traffickers he himself had extradited or pressured to flee to the USA.”
These had advised lies about Hernandez in a bid to have their very own sentences decreased, the kin mentioned.
The 53-year-old, whose 2014-2022 stint as president was tormented by allegations of corruption, dangers spending the remainder of his life in jail if convicted.
AFP witnessed Hernandez’s departure from an air drive base in Tegucigalpa on a Drug Enforcement Administration airplane destined for the USA.
Hernandez is accused of getting facilitated the smuggling of some 500 tons of cocaine — primarily from Colombia and Venezuela — to the USA through Honduras since 2004, beginning lengthy earlier than his presidency.
In flip, he allegedly acquired “tens of millions of {dollars} in bribes… from a number of narcotrafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico and different locations,” in response to a US Embassy doc.
Not even three weeks after leaving workplace following elections, a warrant was issued for Hernandez’s arrest at Washington’s request, and he surrendered to police on February 15.
He was then held at a police particular forces jail within the capital Tegucigalpa.
Hernandez portrayed himself as an ally of the US struggle on medication throughout his tenure, serving to to extradite a number of narcotics kingpins.
Washington even supported his re-election in 2017 regardless of a constitutional one-term restrict and accusations of voting fraud.
However a number of drug traffickers since advised US prosecutors that they had paid bribes to the president’s interior circle, and by the point he left workplace, US drug enforcers had been prepared to maneuver in opposition to Hernandez.
US prosecutors say the previous president turned Honduras right into a “narco-state” by involving the army, police and civilians in drug trafficking to the USA.
An alleged Hernandez affiliate, Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez, was sentenced in the USA in February to life in jail and a fantastic of $151.7 million for smuggling tons of cocaine with the ex-president’s assist, in response to prosecutors.
And his brother, ex-congressman Tony Hernandez, was given a life sentence in the USA in March 2021 for drug trafficking crimes during which Juan Orlando Hernandez was mentioned to have been a co-conspirator.
This month, a choose licensed the extradition to the USA of former nationwide police chief Juan Carlos Bonilla, accused of working drug trafficking operations for Hernandez.
The previous president denies the allegations in opposition to him.
Hernandez left workplace on January 27 when leftist Xiomara Castro grew to become president of this nation, which has a poverty charge of at the very least 60 p.c amongst its 10 million inhabitants.
On March 28, the 15-member Supreme Courtroom of Honduras — all judges appointed throughout Hernandez’s first time period — ratified his extradition.
In an announcement, the previous president’s household protested his “innocence” and mentioned he was a “sufferer of revenge by the drug traffickers he himself had extradited or pressured to flee to the USA.”
These had advised lies about Hernandez in a bid to have their very own sentences decreased, the kin mentioned.
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