The dreaded day arrived that kept the followers of the former president of Honduras and his allies awake at night: seeing the “boss” handcuffed from foot to hand, with chains that were harder on the soul than the body. A humiliating epilogue to so many years of abuse, corruption and collusion with drug traffickers.
The media showed a chained Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH), the same who, about nine years ago, said, very sure of himself: “I will be a new Tiburcio Carías Andino”, referring to the nationalist dictator who ruled the country with an iron fist for 16 years in the mid-20th century.
Carías Andino was never arrested or tried for his crimes, but times have changed. The irony is that those now calling for his arrest and extradition are the same people who in 2017 supported his illegal and fraudulent re-election.
The paths to detention
It was well known that certain American actors wanted to extradite JOH to try him for his involvement in drug trafficking since he assumed the presidency of Congress in 2010.
And, not content with those 12 years, the United States Justice accuses him of colluding with the illegal drug trade since 2004.
JOH is charged by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York with arms trafficking, organized crime and drug trafficking. He is alleged to have been involved in a violent conspiracy to traffic around 500 tons of cocaine into the United States from 2004 to the present.
According to the Washington embassy in Tegucigalpa, as part of this conspiracy, the former president received millions of dollars in bribes and profits from various drug trafficking cartels. In return, he protected the drug traffickers from investigation and arrest, although, under pressure, he allowed the extradition of several of them.
For some time now, the Public Ministry investigating him has included him in the trial documents of several Honduran drug traffickers, including one of JOH’s brothers, the once ineffable and smiling Juan Antonio Hernández, known as Tony, currently serving a long sentence in a northern prison. -American.
Although the former president was mentioned a few times by his name, it was known that “Co-conspirator 4” (CC4) was, without a doubt, him.
JOH has always defended himself by denying the relationship, accusing those who linked him to drug trafficking, all of them on trial at the aforementioned Public Prosecutor’s Office, of testifying against him out of revenge, once he allowed his surrender to the US court system.
It is worth noting that the extradition figure was approved at the request of JOH himself, who in those days did not even dream that his brother and himself could be the object of the measure.
Since JOH lost his immunity as president, speculation has been rife. Most thought there would be refuge in Nicaragua, thanks to his “deep friendship” with Daniel Ortega.
Others thought that his destiny might be Israel, and some of his followers, the most faithful or naive, that he would stay in the country and face his accusers.
None of this happened, that is, JOH stayed, but not out of courage, but because since before handing over formal power he was under constant surveillance by the undercover personnel of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) and the FBI, the same ones that, discreetly, , participated in his arrest.
On the other hand, perhaps Ortega had intended to asylum his friend, but given the circumstances, it is likely that he would regret it.
It is one thing to give shelter to two former Salvadoran presidents accused of corruption in their country, but quite another thing to give shelter to one accused of drug trafficking in the United States.
Ortega is not in a position to continue provoking Washington, much less with a topic that is completely foreign to him. The president of Nicaragua himself made this clear shortly after JOH’s arrest: “Nicaragua is not a haven for criminals.”
What’s next for JOH?
The Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) of Honduras has appointed as judge in the case a magistrate deeply connected to the ex-president’s entourage and to all their legal tricks and tricks to persecute and silence their enemies.
Edwin Francisco Ortez Cruz, 42, was an assistant to former Civil Chamber judge María Elena Matute de Hernández, sister-in-law of JOH and sister of Oscar Raúl Matute, former secretary of the interior of Roberto Micheletti Bain’s de facto government.
Since then, according to court sources, she has been an element within the Judiciary for JOH and its allies to achieve their goals.
However, CSJ president Rolando Edgardo Argueta Pérez, who has been a staunch supporter of JOH since his appointment, appears to have invited him to have hot chocolate with wholegrain cookies in his own office, when the former president was taken away by the first time to CSJ to learn about the charges against him.
An unprecedented attitude of deference, but… will the president of the CSJ dare to go further? Will the responsible judge have the courage to go against the almost omnipotent power of the US?
It is to be expected that loyalties, friendships and even common interests will be left behind. However, rumours, rumors and the most absurd speculations run through the streets of Honduras, while the new government has not yet finished installing itself.
The ideal would have been to try him in Honduras, which Attorney General Oscar Chinchilla intends, very belatedly, as a ruse to avoid extradition.
However, the former president’s party leaders, once staunch supporters of Juanorlandismo, either remain silent or say that “everyone must take responsibility for what they have done.” The height of cynicism.
Translation of Giulia Gaspar
