Honduras Extradites Ex-President to U.S. to Face Drug-Trafficking Charges

(Bloomberg) -- Honduras extradited former President Juan Orlando Hernandez to the U.S. where he faces drug-trafficking and weapons charges. 

Hernandez was aboard a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration plane that departed Tegucigalpa at 2.27 p.m. local time Thursday, destined for the U.S, according to images on local TV. 

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan accused Hernandez, who was head of state from 2014 until January this year, of being part of a violent drug conspiracy. Honduras is a major hub for cocaine shipped to the U.S. from Colombia.

He’s been charged with conspiring to traffic illegal drugs into the U.S., conspiring to possess machine guns and destructive devices and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.

From 2004 to this year, Hernandez took millions of dollars to shield traffickers, including his brother, Juan Antonio Hernandez, according to the indictment made public Thursday. 

The former president used the money to enrich himself, fund his political campaigns and engage in voter fraud, including in the 2013 and 2017 Honduran presidential elections, according to the U.S.

Hernandez “abused his position as the president of Honduras to operate the country as a narco-state, in order to enrich himself and corruptly gain and maintain power,” prosecutors said in the indictment.

“El Chapo”

Hernandez took money from drug trafficking organizations, including from Joaquin Guzman Loera, known as “El Chapo,” the former head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, according to the charges.

Hernandez, 53, has repeatedly insisted he is innocent. In a video message on Thursday before his extradition, Hernandez said “the truth will be revealed and will prevail in my case. I’m innocent and I’m being subjected to an unjust process.” 

His brother was sentenced to life in a U.S. prison last year after being found guilty of participating in the importation of at least 185,000 kilograms (407,860 pounds) of cocaine. 

Dirty Money

Hernandez used drug money to fund his political rise. In 2005, as a congressman running for re-election, he accepted $40,000 in dirty money from Victor Hugo Diaz Morales, or “El Rojo,” the former leader of a drug organization based in Honduras and Guatemala, according to the U.S. The bribe was paid through Hernandez’s brother, prosecutors say.

In 2009, Hernandez campaigned to become president of the Honduran National Congress. This time Diaz Morales paid $100,000 to Hernandez Alvarado, for the promise that if Hernandez won, officials friendly to the drug traffickers would be put in top law enforcement jobs, according to the indictment. 

From 2004 to 2016, according to prosecutors, Diaz Morales was given sensitive police and military information, including about Honduran Navy operations, efforts by the United States to train Honduran Air Force pilots, Honduran radar capabilities and anti-trafficking efforts of Honduran National Police officials. The information was partly the result of the bribes paid to Hernandez, they said. 

During that time, Morales and Hernandez’s brother allegedly worked together to move 140,000 kilograms of cocaine to the U.S.

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