Authorities in Honduras have arrested former President Juan Orlando Hernández for allegedly smuggling over 1 million pounds of cocaine into the United States since 2004. Hernández, who now faces extradition to the United States, was a longtime U.S. ally, in power from 2014 until January 27 of this year, when he was succeeded by Xiomara Castro, Honduras’s first female president. We speak with Castro’s vice minister of foreign affairs, Gerardo Torres Zelaya, who calls the U.S. extradition a step in the correct direction and a dramatic shift from prior U.S. administrations that condoned Hernández’s “kidnapping” of Honduras’s democracy. We also speak with history professor Dana Frank, who says Hernández was not just a drug trafficker, but a dictator who unleashed “tremendous repression and militarization” on Honduras.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! | Radio Free (2022-02-16T13:11:35+00:00) Ex-Honduran President Hernández Arrested on Drug Charges; U.S. Backed His Narco-State for 8 Years. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2022/02/16/ex-honduran-president-hernandez-arrested-on-drug-charges-u-s-backed-his-narco-state-for-8-years/
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