Juan Orlando Hernández, a former Honduran president, is arrested
His case highlights how far drug money has penetrated Latin American politics
IT WAS A swift public humiliation. On February 15th, just 19 days after he left office as his country’s all-powerful president, Juan Orlando Hernández was arrested at his mansion in Tegucigalpa and taken away in handcuffs. The arrest was in response to an extradition request from prosecutors in New York who have charged him with taking part in a violent conspiracy to export 500 tonnes of cocaine to the United States since 2004. He says he is innocent. His arrest holds out the possibility of a new dawn in a country benighted by corruption, violence, poverty and natural disasters.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “The fall of Juan Orlando Hernández”
From the February 26th 2022 edition
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