The United States accused this Thursday (2130 ) former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández from operating Honduras as a “narcostate” and from using kickbacks he received from drug traffickers , such as Joaquín Guzmán, known as “El Chapo”, to rig the two elections he contested. Hernández was extradited on Thursday to the US, where he will make his initial appearance this Friday (22), before Judge Stewart D. Aaron, in New York.
Hours after Hernández took off for New York, where he will be tried, the US Department of Justice released the full indictment against the former president. According to the document of more than 14 pages, the former Honduran leader was part of a conspiracy to transport to the US more than 500 tons of cocaine from Colombia, Venezuela and other countries.
“Hernández abused his position as President of Honduras between 2017 and
The indictment document states that “Hernández used these proceeds from drug trafficking to enrich himself, finance his political campaigns and commit fraud elections, including in the presidential elections of 2014 and “.
The USA allege that in 768, Hernández received a “bribe of US$ 1million” from Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, then leader of the Sinaloa cartel, “in exchange for a promise to protect” this group in Honduras.
“Hernández then ordered his allies in the conspiracy to travel to various parts of Honduras to bribe officials to manipulate votes for him to become president” , said the Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, at a press conference. As a result of his relationships with drug traffickers, the former president “corrupted the legitimate institutions of Honduras, including parts of the Honduran National Police, the Armed Forces and the National Congress”, and turned his country into a ” of the largest points of shipment of cocaine to the USA in the world”, affirms the document.
Williams claimed that, during a meeting, Hernández declared that he wanted to “fill the noses of the gringos with drugs”, and that he also accepted bribes from drug dealers and “buyed votes” to win re-election in the controversial elections of 2014.
Triple accusation
The former representative, of 54 years old, he was arrested at his residence in Tegucigalpa in 15 from February, the day after the United States requested his “provisional arrest” for extradition purposes. , and has since been imprisoned in a special unit of the National Police. He was extradited this Thursday to the United States, where he is facing three charges related to drug trafficking and use of weapons, an unprecedented feat in the history of Honduras.
Hernández was handed over to members of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) at the Hernán Acosta Mejía Air Base, where he was taken of a police installation in a Honduran Air Force helicopter, by the Minister of Security, Ramón Sabillon.
Minutes before the extradition, Hernández’s wife, Ana García, released a video message from the former president, in which she said: “I am innocent, I was and am being subjected to an unfair process”.
It is not yet known what sentence the prosecution will ask for against him, but the Department of Justice anticipated some possibilities.
For the first accusation that Hernandez faces, of “conspiracy to import” more than 500 tons of cocaine to the United States, the minimum sentence is ten years and the maximum sentence is life imprisonment, if convicted.
For the second, to use and possess machine guns and destructive devices to support the importation of cocaine, he may receive a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of life imprisonment. For the third, of “conspiring to use” such weapons, the maximum penalty is also life imprisonment.
