Agency Report

The United States has asked Honduras to extradite former president Juan Orlando Hernandez who is suspected of drug trafficking, a Honduran official who declined to be named told AFP on Monday.

The official added that Hernandez, who left office last month, is currently in Honduras as police special forces could be seen encircling his residence in the capital Tegucigalpa on Monday evening.

The Honduran Foreign Ministry had said earlier on Twitter that an “official communication from the US Embassy” was sent to the Supreme Court formally asking for the provisional arrest of an unnamed “Honduran politician” for extradition.

News channel CNN broadcast images of the document, which made a “formal request for provisional arrest for the purpose of extradition to the United States of America of Juan Orlando Hernandez Alvarado.”

Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hernandez was included on a list last year of people accused of corruption or undermining democracy in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

“The United States is advancing transparency and accountability in Central America by making public visa restrictions against Honduras’ former president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, on account of corrupt actions,” Blinken said on Twitter on February 7. “No one is above the law.”