THE Honduras Supreme Court yesterday authorised the extradition of former president Juan Orlando Hernandez to the United States to face charges of drug trafficking.

The court rejected an appeal by Hernandez, 53, following a judge’s March 16 decision to accept an extradition request by the Court of the Southern District of New York, said judiciary spokesman Melvin Duarte.

Hernandez could face a life sentence if convicted.

His former congressman brother Tony Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison in the United States in March last year for drug trafficking.

It was during that trial that the ex-president was implicated in the illicit trade.

Hernandez, who held office from 2014 to 2022, is accused of having facilitated the smuggling of some 500 tons of drugs – mainly from Colombia and Venezuela – to the US via Honduras since 2004.

US prosecutors have alleged he received millions of dollars from drug traffickers for protection – including from Mexican narco-kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Hernandez faces three charges: conspiracy to import a controlled substance into the US, using or carrying firearms including machine guns, and conspiracy to use or carry firearms.

On the first charge, the Supreme Court’s 15 magistrates voted unanimously in favour of extradition.

For the two firearms related charges, the vote was 13 for and two against.

The court’s decision cannot be appealed.

Hernandez was arrested in mid-February, less than a month after leaving the presidency, following a US extradition request.

In mid-March, a judge ordered his extradition, which Hernandez appealed.

In a letter published yesterday, Hernandez maintained that he is innocent and said he is the “victim of revenge and conspiracy.”

Hernandez claims that drug traffickers he helped extradite to the US have tried to get back at him by implicating him in the trade. – AFP, March 29, 2022.