Central America
Honduran ex-president brought before judge as US seeks extradition
AFP
Honduran ex-president Juan Orlando Hernandez, detained pending a decision on his extradition to the United States on drug trafficking charges, will appear Wednesday before a judge in Tegucigalpa assigned to determine his fate.
Hernandez surrendered to police Tuesday, hours after the judge — whose name authorities are withholding for his own protection — issued a warrant for his arrest.
The former president is wanted in the United States over claims that he facilitated the trafficking of 500 tons of cocaine.
In power for eight years until three weeks ago, when leftist Xiomara Castro was sworn in as Honduras’s first woman president, Hernandez spent Tuesday night in the custody of the police special forces.
The 53-year-old rightwing politician, who served two successive terms clouded by corruption claims, was arrested hours earlier at his house in the capital Tegucigalpa by Honduran police in coordination with American agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration.
He offered no resistance, and allowed officers to cuff his hands and feet and fit him out in a bullet-proof vest.
Dozens of people with banners celebrated outside Hernandez’s home, while in other cities, people took to the streets with loudspeakers singing “Juancho goes to New York,” using his nickname.
The US embassy in Tegucigalpa said in a statement Hernandez is accused of trafficking some 500 tons of cocaine through Honduras, knowing it would end up in the United States.
– ‘Defend myself’ –
The ex-president faces three charges: conspiracy to import a controlled substance into the United States, using or carrying firearms including machine guns, and conspiracy to use or carry firearms in support of the conspiracy to traffic narcotics.
Hernandez is accused of having conspired with his brother, former Honduran congressman Tony Hernandez, who was in March 2021 given life in prison in the United States for drug trafficking.
Spokesman Melvin Duarte said Hernandez’s appearance Tuesday was to start the process for the judge to weigh information received from the United States.
Previous extradition requests had taken no more than four months to adjudicate, he added.
Hernandez vowed Tuesday to cooperate with domestic authorities, saying in an audio message on Twitter he was ready to appear in court and “defend myself.”
Though Hernandez had portrayed himself as an ally of the US war on drugs during his tenure, traffickers caught in the United States claimed to have paid bribes to the president’s inner circle.
Alleged associate Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez was sentenced in the United States last week to life in prison and a fine of $151.7 million for smuggling tons of cocaine into the country — with Hernandez’s aid, according to prosecutors.
In that trial, a prosecutor said the then-president had received millions of dollars from drug traffickers for protection — including from Mexican narco kingpin Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman.
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.
– ‘Bankrupt’ state –
His lawyer, Hermes Ramirez insisted Monday that his client enjoyed immunity from prosecution as a member of the Guatemala-based Central American Parliament, Parlacen.
Hernandez joined Parlacen hours after leaving office on January 27.
But some analysts told AFP the Parlacen charter gives members, in their country of origin, the same immunity they would have enjoyed as members of their own parliament, which in Honduras, does not exist.
They also said that any immunity conferred by Parlacen membership could be waived at the request of a national government.
During his term, Hernandez was accused of unjustly expanding presidential powers, including over the justice system and the country’s election tribunal.
His re-election in 2017 was met with widespread protests against an alleged fraudulent campaign in the poverty- and violence-ridden country.
Central America
Arévalo accuses Porras and judge of undermining democracy in Guatemala
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo denounced a new attempt at a “coup” orchestrated by the Attorney General’s Office. He also requested an extraordinary session at the Organization of American States (OAS) to address the country’s ongoing political crisis.
The president has been at odds with Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union for being “corrupt” and “anti-democratic.” Since 2023, Arévalo has accused Porras of launching investigations against his party, Semilla, and the 2023 elections as part of a scheme to prevent his inauguration in January 2024.
From the presidential office, Arévalo has said he continues to “resist” the “coup plotters,” but tensions escalated last Friday when Judge Fredy Orellana, at the request of the Attorney General’s Office, ordered the electoral court to annul the Semilla party’s promoter group. Arévalo interpreted this as an attempt to revoke the positions won by the party.
“Orellana, a hitman who distorts the law in service of Consuelo Porras, is attempting to force […] the unconstitutional removal of a mayor, 23 elected deputies […], the vice president, and the president of the country,” Arévalo said in a televised address on Sunday.
“We call on the international community not to turn a blind eye to the coup being attempted in Guatemala,” he added, speaking alongside his cabinet and congressional members at the National Palace in Guatemala City.
Arévalo requested that the Organization of American States hold an extraordinary session to present “the serious threats” to the Guatemalan Constitution and democracy perpetrated by Porras and Orellana.
Yesterday, Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Ramiro Martínez reaffirmed the president’s statements, emphasizing the need “to go and expose the situation” Guatemala has been facing since last week due to the actions of the Attorney General’s Office.
Central America
New dismembered bodies found in San Juan river days after mass killing in Palencia
On the morning of Monday, October 27, Guatemala’s Volunteer Firefighters confirmed the discovery of two bodies and two human heads inside plastic bags in the San Juan River, located in the Zacualpía village at kilometer 21 of the Atlantic Highway, in the jurisdiction of Palencia.
The remains were found by personnel from Companies 85, 50, and Central, who responded after receiving a report about suspicious bags floating in the water. The gruesome discovery was made just a few meters from the site where eight tortured bodies were found under the San Juan Bridge on Friday, October 24.
Local authorities do not rule out a connection between both incidents and suspect they may be tied to the same criminal organization. Investigators from the Public Ministry and the National Civil Police arrived at the scene to gather evidence and transfer the remains to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (Inacif).
According to data from the National Economic Research Center (CIEN), Guatemala recorded 2,154 homicides between January and August 2025, an increase compared to the 1,816 reported during the same period in 2024.
Central America
Four guatemalan soldiers arrested for stealing weapons from Northern Air Command
Four soldiers were arrested in connection with the theft of weapons from the Northern Air Command of the Ministry of Defense in Petén, Guatemala, following operations conducted by the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office).
“During the operations, criminal scenes were processed, analyzed, and documented photographically, possible escape routes were identified, surveillance cameras were located, and potential witnesses were interviewed,” the Prosecutor’s Office explained in a social media post.
The detained soldiers were identified as Ludwin Jónathan Cardona Baltazar, charged with illicit association, dereliction of duty, and aggravated theft; and Josué Israel Pérez Jerónimo, Alain Omar Marroquín Soch, and Carlos Ernesto Ibarra Corrales, charged with dereliction of duty, according to Guatemala’s Prensa Libre.
The military personnel reportedly stole 55 rifles, 14,420 rounds of 5.56 mm ammunition, 92 magazines of 35 rounds each, 19 magazines of 20 rounds each, and three grenade launchers, “which were allegedly moved from the arms warehouse to the outside for illicit sale.”
The Ministry of Defense stated that it will keep its internal control mechanisms active to prevent similar incidents.
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