Honduran officials announced that they had been asked by the United States to arrest former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez for eventual extradition.
Honduras’s foreign ministry initially filed the request, leading police to surround Hernandez’s home Monday night, with a court preparing to oversee the request. Hernandez is currently accused of manipulating local elections and promoting the sale of illegal drugs.
The Honduran foreign affairs ministry sent a request to the country’s Supreme Court on Monday asking for the arrest of a Honduran politician for extradition to the U.S., according to a tweet. While the foreign ministry did not directly name the politician, Honduran Vice President Salvador Nasralla told the Associated Press that the request names Hernandez specifically.
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The Supreme Court also called a full-court session on Tuesday to choose a judge for overseeing the extradition request.
Police have also surrounded Hernandez’s home, although it is not clear that an arrest warrant has been put out for the former president’s arrest.
“It must be made clear that this is an outrage,” Hernandez’s attorney, Hermes Ramirez, told local media. The attorney claims that police cannot arrest Hernandez due to his immunity as the country’s representative to the Central American Parliament.
Hernandez has been connected to several accusations of criminal activity, including cocaine smuggling and money laundering allegations. He is also reportedly linked to claims of voter fraud in his 2017 reelection campaign.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement in February that there are “credible reports” that Hernandez “engaged in significant corruption by committing or facilitating acts of corruption and narco-trafficking.”
A representative from the Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment from the Washington Examiner.
