Honduras hands over its former president to the United States for trial

Honduras extradited its former president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, to the United States on Thursday, where he will face decades-old drug charges in a New York court to advance his political career.

The New York Times reported that the accusations go back years, when the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan and the Drug Enforcement Agency conducted an investigation into drug trafficking that exposed corruption at the highest levels in Honduras.

A US Drug Enforcement Administration plane arrived at 12 noon on Thursday at Toncontin International Airport in the capital, Tegucigalpa, and about an hour later, the Honduran Defense Minister confirmed the extradition of Hernandez.

Under his rule, the country of 10 million people became a gateway for huge quantities of cocaine traveling through Mexico to the United States.

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