TEGUCIGALPA: A Honduran judge on Tuesday ordered the arrest of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez amid an extradition request by the United States on drug-trafficking and weapons charges, a judicial said.
Hernandez must appear before the judge within 24 hours, the added. A police helicopter was seen approaching his residence in a live broadcast on local TV.
A US Embassy document, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, said Hernandez was wanted on charges that he participated in a drug-trafficking scheme between 2004 and 2022.
Hernandez, who was replaced as president last month by leftist Xiomara Castro, has pledged to cooperate with the national police.
Among the charges, Hernandez, 53, is accused of participating in an operation to receive in Honduras tons of cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela, the document said. The cocaine was then to be shipped to the United States.
The embassy also said Hernandez – who was president from 2014 to 2022 – received millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for protecting traffickers from investigation and prosecution. The firearms charges include carrying, using, or aiding and abetting the use of weapons, including machineguns.
The US State Department referred queries to the US Justice Department, which declined to comment. A related for the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan declined to comment.
Honduras’ Supreme Court – which will decide on the extradition request – met on Tuesday and appointed a justice to oversee the case. The process could last between two and three months, according to Hernandez’s defense.
Hernandez had been holed up in his home, according to one of his lawyers, after about 100 police officers surrounded it late on Monday.
“The national police, through my proxies, have already received the message that I am ready to collaborate and voluntarily arrive with their accompaniment, at the moment the judge appointed by the honorable Supreme Court of Justice decides, in order to face this situation and defend myself,” Hernandez said in a message on Twitter.
Just a few hours after leaving office, Hernandez joined the Central American Parliament (Parlacen), a six-country regional body that affords its members immunity from prosecution.
However, any immunity bestowed by Parlacen, which comprises elected officials as well as former presidents and vice presidents, can be removed or suspended at the request of a member’s home country.
Security Minister Ramon Sabillon said Tuesday that President Castro had ordered him to comply with the law and to keep her informed. A presidency source said Castro would not comment publicly until the Supreme Court had reached its decision.
WILLING TO SURRENDER
A lawyer for Hernandez, Felix Avila, told a Honduran TV channel that if a Supreme Court judge orders his client’s arrest, he “has said that if he is allowed, he is willing to surrender voluntarily”.
The former leader’s legal defense issued a statement earlier Tuesday saying there was no need to arrest Hernandez.
“Given Mr. Hernandez’s stated will to voluntarily submit to the extradition process, there is no need to proceed with the issuance of an arrest warrant or preventive arrest warrant, since his volunteered presence guarantees the normality of the procedure,” the statement said.
Washington’s request for extradition is in contrast to a period when the US government saw Hernandez as a vital ally in volatile Central America during his eight years in power.
However, expectations have grown in recent months that Hernandez would face an extradition request after leaving office.
Last year, a US judge sentenced Hernandez’s brother to life in prison plus 30 years for drug trafficking and the former president was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in another drug trafficking case in New York.
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