Central America
Honduran ex-president requests house arrest as US seeks extradition
AFP
Lawyers for Honduran ex-president Juan Orlando Hernandez, wanted on drug trafficking charges in the United States, asked Monday that he be granted house arrest while the extradition case against him proceeds, a spokesperson said.
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.
Washington requested on February 14 he be extradited to the United States to face charges.
He was arrested and placed in a prison at the Special Forces headquarters, in the east of the capital Tegucigalpa.
A judge ruled Hernandez would stay there in preventative detention until a second hearing next month.
But on Monday, Hernandez’s defense team requested “the change of detention measure… to his home, under house arrest,” Supreme Court spokesman Melvin Duarte said.
The court had said on Twitter the judge had agreed to hear an appeal from the defense team to revoke Hernandez’s preventative detention.
The appeal has to be approved by all 15 justices of the Supreme Court.
In power for eight years until January 27, when leftist Xiomara Castro was sworn in as Honduras’s first woman president, Hernandez was taken from his home in Tegucigalpa by Honduran police acting in coordination with US agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration.
While the rightwing politician 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.
Hernandez’s brother, former Honduran congressman Tony Hernandez, was given a life sentence in the United States in March 2021 for drug trafficking.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on February 7 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.
His wife, Ana Garcia, appeared Monday before the National Commission on Human Rights to protest against the way her husband was arrested.
“You transmitted all the images of the humiliating and degrading way in which my husband was treated,” she told reporters. “The authorities who allowed the use of shackles and chains… exhibited him publicly as a trophy.”
But deputy security minister Julissa Villanueva said she had checked Hernandez’s prison conditions Monday and did not find “any violation of human rights, cruel or degrading treatment.”
Central America
Guatemala cracks down on prison corruption with over 20 raids in recent weeks
The Guatemalan government warned on Monday that it will not tolerate corruption within the prison system, highlighting that more than 20 raids conducted in recent weeks have helped regain control over its penitentiaries.
“We will not tolerate any acts of corruption from our personnel,” said José Portillo, Deputy Minister of Security at the Ministry of the Interior, during a press conference.
According to Portillo, 21 raids were carried out in the last 15 days with support from security forces across the penitentiary system, and a total of 140 raids have been conducted so far in 2025.
These operations have resulted in the confiscation of dozens of household appliances and cell phones, as well as weapons and other prohibited items inside the prisons.
“We are firmly controlling bribery and corruption,” emphasized the recently appointed deputy minister, adding that “we will be strong and decisive within the penitentiary system.”
Portillo explained that the purpose of these raids is to tackle structural causes within prisons, which are the origin of much of the violence affecting the Central American country, including contract killings and extortions.
He stated that the recent operations have helped reduce crime and identify “hot spots” in the country.
“We are impacting criminal structures,” the official said.
Data released on June 6 by the Director of the National Civil Police, David Custodio Boteo, reported 1,385 homicides in the first five months of the year, representing a 15 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
Experts on the subject point out that thousands of Guatemalan merchants fall victim to extortions that originate precisely within the prisons.
Central America
First woman elected president in the Americas, Violeta Chamorro, dead at 95
Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, former president of Nicaragua and the first woman in the Americas to be democratically elected head of state, passed away this Saturday in Costa Rica at the age of 95. A pivotal figure in Nicaragua’s transition to democracy, Chamorro achieved a historic victory over Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega in the 1990 elections, heading a broad opposition coalition.
The Chamorro Barrios family confirmed her death in a statement:
“Our mother, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, former president of Nicaragua, passed away today, June 14, 2025, at 2:21 a.m. (08:21 GMT) in San José, Costa Rica, at the age of 95, after a long illness.”
“Doña Violeta died peacefully, surrounded by the love and affection of her children and the extraordinary care of those who looked after her. She is now in the peace of the Lord,” her children Pedro Joaquín, Claudia Lucía, Cristiana, and Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios wrote.
Chamorro’s victory in 1990 marked a significant turning point in Central American politics, ending more than a decade of Sandinista rule and initiating a fragile but hopeful democratic chapter in Nicaragua’s history.
Central America
Nicaraguan exile coalition urges Costa Rica to receive U.S. deportees fleeing Ortega regime
The Coalition of Nicaraguans in Exile urged Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves on Sunday to receive opponents and critics of the Ortega-Murillo regime currently residing in the United States who may be deported by the administration of Donald Trump.
“We appeal to you, Mr. President, to kindly consider, as an act of humanity and in accordance with the principles of international refugee law, the reopening of entry and temporary reception pathways for Nicaraguan citizens deported from the United States,” the coalition stated in a letter addressed to Chaves.
They specifically requested the reopening of entry for those Nicaraguans who had previously sought asylum or refugee status in Costa Rica and who express a well-founded fear for their lives and personal safety if returned to Nicaragua.
The organization, which identifies itself as committed to defending and promoting the human rights of Nicaraguans “forced into exile by the repression of the Sandinista dictatorship,” expressed its appeal with “urgency and deep concern.”
In the letter, the coalition emphasized the dramatic situation faced by thousands of Nicaraguans who fled political persecution under Daniel Ortega’s regime and are now at risk of deportation from the United States.
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