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U.S. charges ex-Honduras president Hernandez with drugs, weapons crimes

22 April 2022 02:47 (UTC +04:00)

The United States has charged former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was extradited to the U.S. on Thursday, for alleged participation in a cocaine-importation conspiracy and related firearms offenses, the Justice Department said, APA reports quoting Reuters.

The indictment marked a stunning fall from grace for the former Washington ally who led the Central American nation from 2014 to January 2022. Hernandez departed Tegucigalpa earlier Thursday afternoon aboard a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration plane.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Hernandez received millions of dollars from drug trafficking organizations, including from the former leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, and used those funds to enrich himself and finance his political campaigns, prosecutors said.