Honduras’ Juan Orlando Hernández: from the presidency to a U.S. prison?

Just three weeks ago, Juan Orlando “JOH” Hernández was the president of Honduras. Today, he was arrested on gunrunning and drug-trafficking charges and faces extradition to the U.S. — where a federal court has already convicted his brother for taking a bribe from notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

The U.S. seeks to extradite Mr. Hernández for his part in a criminal ring operating between 2004 and 2022 which allegedly smuggled 500,000 kilos of cocaine from Venezuela and Colombia into America’s borders. At around 6 am on Tuesday, Mr. Hernández announced on social media that he would turn himself in after heavily-armed troops surrounded his home. 

The arrest marks a massive fall from grace for the former president — who was once declared a U.S. ally despite the cloud of suspicion hanging over him. As InSight Crime points out, “just one day after his brother’s conviction in the U.S. [to a life sentence back in 2019], the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Honduras at the...