Former Honduran President Hernandez suffered “Humiliations” during Arrest, says wife

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, captured on Tuesday following a U.S. extradition request for drug trafficking, was subjected to “humiliations” during his arrest, his wife, Ana Garcia, denounced on Saturday.

Hernandez “was subjected to a horrific and humiliating mockery” and “for more than 17 hours we faced the horror, we feared for our lives and integrity suffering the constant siege of 600 security agents”, denounced in a statement Garcia, who announced that she will present the accusations to the “competent authorities”.

On Monday, the United States asked Honduras to extradite Hernández, accusing him of exporting 500 tons of cocaine and receiving bribes from drug lords such as Mexico’s Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán, while he was president of Congress and then in two terms as president of the Republic between 2010 and 2022.

The former president’s home was immediately surrounded by a strong police contingent. 

On Tuesday, Hernández came out of his residence and was immediately placed in a bulletproof vest and handcuffed by Honduran law enforcement agents, in an operation headed by police director Ramón Sabillón, with the support of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

He was then transferred to the police Special Forces headquarters in Tegucigalpa.

On Wednesday he appeared before a judge who read him the charges and returned him to police headquarters to appear again at a second court hearing on March 16.

In a “cruel and degrading way” there was “an overexposure to the public through the media, even using drones that flew over our house and abruptly invaded our privacy,” the former first lady said.

Hernández, who left the presidency of Honduras on January 27, has been implicated by New York prosecutors of having ties to drug trafficking. Her brother, former congressman “Tony” Hernández, was sentenced in March 2021 to life in prison in the United States for that crime. 

In a statement, U.S. Chief of Mission Antony Blinken noted that “according to multiple credible media reports,” Hernández “has engaged in significant corruption by committing or facilitating acts of corruption and drug trafficking, and by using the proceeds of illicit activities for political campaigns.”