The ex-President of Honduras has been deported to the United States to face drug charges
Written byTimes Magazine
Hernandez's former president Juan Orlando Hernandez is accused of facilitating the trafficking of 500 tonnes of cocaine into the United States.
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was deported to the United States on Thursday to face charges of assisting in smuggling hundreds of tonnes of cocaine to the United States and accepting millions of dollars in bribes.
If convicted, the 53-year-old, whose presidency from 2014 to 2022 was marred by allegations of corruption, could spend the all of his life in prison.
According to AFP, Hernandez was seen leaving a Tegucigalpa air force base on a Drug Enforcement Administration plane bound for the United States. He is scheduled to appear in a New York newspaper.
Hernandez is blamed of facilitating the smuggling of 500 tonnes of cocaine, primarily from Colombia and Venezuela, to the United States through Honduras since 2004, long before he became president.
According to a US Embassy document, he allegedly received "millions of dollars in bribes... from multiple narcotrafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico, also other places."
Prosecutors in NY charged Hernandez with three counts of drug and weapons offenses in an indictment.
"Hernandez abused his position as Honduran President... to run the country as a narco-state," US Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters.
A warrant was issued for Hernandez's arrest three weeks after he left office following the elections, at Washington's request, also he surrendered to police on February 15.
During his tenure, Hernandez portrayed himself as a supporter of the US drug war, assisting in the extradition of several drug lords.
Despite a constitutional 1-term limit and allegations of voter fraud, Washington even supported his re-election in 2017.
However, several drug traffickers have since told US prosecutors that they paid bribes to the president's inner circle members. US drug enforcers were all set to move against Hernandez by the time he left office.
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