Honduran ex-president Juan Orlando Hernandez, wanted on drug trafficking charges in the United States, will remain in prison for at least a month as the extradition case against him proceeds, a judge in the capital Tegucigalpa ruled.
The 53-year-old is accused of having facilitated the smuggling of some 500 tons of drugs – mainly from Colombia and Venezuela – to the United States via Honduras since 2004.
In turn, he allegedly received “millions of dollars in bribes… from multiple narcotrafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico and other places,” according to a document from the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa.
A judge Wednesday decided to keep Hernandez in preventative detention “in order to guarantee his presence” at the second hearing in the case next month, Supreme Court spokesman Melvin Duarte said.
Hernandez, who was still in office just three weeks ago, was brought to court for his first hearing in the case in a convoy that included armored vehicles and a helicopter from the police station where he had spent the night.
Outside the court building, supporters from his rightwing National Party (NP) shouted, “He is not alone!” while backers of the leftist Libre party that recently ousted the NP from power celebrated Hernandez’s fall from grace.
The judge – whose name authorities are withholding for his own protection – read Hernandez the charges in court Wednesday before ruling the former president will remain in preventative detention until the case’s next hearing on March 16.
Previous extradition requests had taken no more than four months to adjudicate, he added.
The ex-president was placed in a room with a double bed and bathroom, and enough space to exercise, the head of Special Forces, Miguel Perez, said.
Hernandez had surrendered to police Tuesday, hours after the judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
His wife, Ana Garcia, said in a statement that “as a family we are experiencing difficult times,” but that “God is our main strength.”
Hernandez’s brother, former Honduran congressman Tony Hernandez, was given a life sentence in the United States in March 2021 for drug trafficking.
Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “according to multiple, credible media reports,” Hernandez “has engaged in significant corruption by committing or facilitating acts of corruption and narco-trafficking and using the proceeds of illicit activity to facilitate political campaigns.”
Hernandez denies the claims, which he said were part of a revenge plot by traffickers that his government had captured or extradited to the United States.