The United States asked the new government in Honduras for the arrest and extradition of former President Juan Orlando Hernández, as confirmed by Honduran authorities on Monday night.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Honduras indicated through Twitter that it had notified the Supreme Court of Justice of the country that the United States Embassy had formally requested
the arrest of a Honduran politician so that he could be extradited.
The Foreign Ministry did not identify the politician.
But the current vice president of Honduras, Salvador Nasralla, confirmed to The Associated Press news agency that the request mentions Hernández.
[USA. added former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández to his list of corrupt leaders]
The news was first reported by CNN en Español, which showed a statement from the ministry to the court in which Hernández was named.
Last week, the State Department made public Hernandez's designation on its list of officials suspected of corruption.
The brother of the former president, Tony Hernández, was sentenced in New York in March of last year to life in prison for crimes related to drug trafficking.
On video: Mexican drug traffickers demand an alleged Honduran mobster to return seized drugs
Feb. 6, 202200:29
Hernández left office on January 27, when now President Xiomara Castro was sworn in.
Hernández currently serves as a representative of Honduras before the Central American Parliament.
There had been speculation for months that Hernández could be impeached when he ceased to be president, because US prosecutors in New York repeatedly implicated him in his brother's 2019 drug trial, alleging that his political rise was fueled by money obtained from the illegal drug sale.
Hernández has flatly denied the allegations.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/TR3MCYPNXNCGBP24HQVCJPKEX4.jpeg)
