(ANSA) — Tegucigalpa, March 16 — Honduran Judge Edwin Ortiz has decided to accept the United States’ extradition request for former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who is charged by a judge in the Southern District of New York with crimes. relating to drug trafficking and the illegal carrying of weapons. This was reported by the newspaper El Heraldo in Tegucigalpa.
Hernandez, 53, was president from January 27, 2014 to January 27, 2022, and was arrested following the expiration of his second term at his capital residence.
The accused’s lawyer has three days to appeal the extradition decision in the plenary session of the Supreme Court, and the newspaper learned from sources close to the former head of state defense that the appeal will be filed.
According to the US indictment, Hernandez participated in a “dreadful drug smuggling plot” in which he received shipments of more than many tons of cocaine that were sent to Honduras from South America (Colombia and Venezuela) by air or sea.
Later, according to the US Attorney, the drug, once on the territory of Honduras, was transported to the west of the country and from there to the border with Guatemala, with the United States as its final destination.
American judicial sources confirmed that from 2004 to 2022, the criminal association transported more than 500,000 kilograms of cocaine through Honduras bound for the territory of North America.
This activity is said to have earned the former president millions of dollars in bribes and dividends paid by various organizations in Honduras, Mexico and elsewhere.
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