By Canadian Press

US asks Honduras to arrest, extradite ex-President Hernández

Feb 14, 2022 | 8:31 PM

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — The United States has asked Honduras to arrest former President Juan Orlando Hernández for his eventual extradition to the U.S., officials confirmed Monday.

National Police and soldiers surrounded the neighborhood around Hernández’s home Monday night.

Honduras’ foreign affairs ministry initially said via Twitter that it had notified the country’s Supreme Court of Justice that the U.S. Embassy had formally requested the arrest of a Honduran politician for the purposes of extradition.

The ministry did not identify the politician. But Honduras’ current vice president, Salvador Nasralla, confirmed to The Associated Press that request names Hernández.

CNN en Español first reported that the politician was Hernández, showing the communication from the ministry to the court naming Hernández.

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“At this time the Secretary of Security is violating the rule of law by wanting to execute an arrest order violating the procedure that is established by law,” Hernández’s attorney, Hermes Ramírez, told local media. “We leave clear the abuse that my client ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández is the subject of.”

Over the weekend, Hernández had posted photographs of himself playing with his dogs in an apparent attempt to knock down rumors that he had fled the country.

Nicole Navas, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice, declined to comment. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hernández left office Jan. 27 with the swearing in of President Xiomara Castro. The same day Hernández left office he was sworn in as Honduras’ representative to the Central American Parliament.

Ramírez said Monday night that Hernández had immunity because of his position in the regional parliament and insisted that he had a right to a presumption of innocence.

With a weak and co-opted Honduran justice system, Hondurans’ hope for justice had rested for years with U.S. federal prosecutors in New York, where a string of revelations against Hernández was closely followed back home.

Speculation had swirled for months over whether Hernández would be charged once he was no longer president, because U.S. prosecutors in New York repeatedly implicated him in his brother’s 2019 drug trafficking trial, alleging that his political rise was fueled by drug profits.

Hernández strongly denied any such activities.

Marlon González And Christopher Sherman, The Associated Press