Central America
Honduran judge grants extradition of ex-president Hernandez to US
AFP
A judge in Honduras granted the extradition of former president Juan Orlando Hernandez to the United States, where he is wanted for alleged drug trafficking, the Central American country’s Supreme Court of Justice said on Twitter.
A judge “decided to accept the request for extradition presented by the Court of the Southern District of New York against ex-president of the republic Juan Orlando Hernandez Alvarado,” the court said Wednesday.
The decision can still be appealed within three days of its writing, judiciary spokesman Melvin Duarte said, in which case the Supreme Court’s panel of justices would weigh in.
The former president, who held office from 2014 to 2022, is accused of having facilitated the smuggling of some 500 tons of drugs — mainly from Colombia and Venezuela — to the United States via Honduras since 2004.
US prosecutors have alleged Hernandez, 53, received millions of dollars from drug traffickers for protection — including from Mexican narco-kingpin Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman.
He faces three charges: conspiracy to import a controlled substance into the United States, using or carrying firearms including machine guns, and conspiracy to use or carry firearms.
New York prosecutors linked the former president to the crimes during the trial of his brother, former Honduran congressman Tony Hernandez, who in March 2021 was sentenced to life in prison in the United States for drug trafficking.
Hernandez’s lawyers claimed the “United States has not sent any sufficient and irrefutable evidence” linking the former president to drug-trafficking.
But Duarte said that only a “minimal burden of proof” was required to approve extradition requests
Hernandez, a right-wing lawyer, departed office on January 26 when leftist Xiomara Castro became president.
Before his eight-year presidency, Hernandez had led the country’s Congress, taking a pro-US stance and supporting Washington’s fight against drug trafficking.
“Today is a very sad day for our family… I repeat to the whole world and all of Honduras, my husband is innocent, he is a victim of a conspiracy and the vengeance of drug-traffickers who were once extradited from this country,” said Hernandez’s wife Ana Garcia.
She said those drug-traffickers were striking plea bargains by implicating Hernandez.
Controversy has never been far away from Hernandez since he entered politics.
Re-election is banned by the Honduran constitution, but Hernandez was allowed to stand for a second consecutive time in 2017 following a ruling by the Supreme Court.
His subsequent victory, after initially trailing opponent Salvador Nasralla by five percentage points with more than half of the votes counted, sparked accusations of fraud.
He has been held in custody since surrendering to police on February 15, a day after Washington requested his extradition.
Wearing a smart suit, Hernandez arrived at court surrounded by a contingent of special forces police, who also accompanied him back to prison after his hearing.
Central America
El Salvador reaches 270 homicide-free days in 2025, PNC reports
El Salvador closed Wednesday, November 19, with zero homicides nationwide, according to National Civil Police (PNC) statistics released early Thursday morning.
The PNC reported that this latest day without violent deaths brings the total to 19 homicide-free days so far in November 2025, including 13 consecutive days. Throughout 2025, the country has accumulated 270 days with zero homicides.
The 270 homicide-free days recorded this year are distributed as follows: 18 in November, 24 in October, 23 in September, 27 in August, 29 in July, 25 in June, 25 in January, 26 in February, 22 in March, 25 in April, and 25 in May.
Authorities attribute these security results to the government’s public safety measures, including the Territorial Control Plan and the state of exception, implemented in March 2022 to combat gang structures.
Since President Nayib Bukele took office in 2019, El Salvador has registered 1,057 homicide-free days, of which 943 occurred under the state of exception.
Central America
Arévalo warns of ‘Dark Interests’ targeting human rights defenders in Guatemala
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo de León warned on Thursday that human rights defenders are facing serious threats, aggression, and criminalization by “dark interests” embedded within the structures of the State.
“Today we are facing serious levels of threats, aggression, and criminalization against people who promote respect for human rights, coming from actors and criminal networks—sometimes embedded in State institutions—that refuse to accept that Guatemala is changing,” Arévalo said during a public event held at the former Government Palace.
During the event, authorities presented the Public Policy for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders 2025–2035, an initiative developed in compliance with a 2014 resolution from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), issued in response to the killing of activist Florentín Gudiel Ramos in 2004.
Central America
Newborn found in Costa Rican dump survives two days in unsanitary conditions
Costa Rican media outlets report that a newborn baby was found in a garbage dump, where he had reportedly spent two days in unsanitary conditions.
Police located the infant after a resident alerted authorities upon hearing crying coming from a clandestine dumping site in the Rancho Guanacaste area. The newborn was discovered alive inside a drainage channel, covered in waste. He was immediately taken to the National Children’s Hospital, where he received medical care and is now in stable condition.
“The National Children’s Hospital confirms that we indeed received a newborn approximately four or five days old who was found in a wooded area near the Alajuelita roundabout. He was first taken to the Solón Núñez Clinic and then transferred to this hospital. As of now, the baby is in the emergency department in good condition. He arrived a bit cold, but he has been warmed, fed, and his initial physical exam is completely normal,” explained hospital director Carlos Jiménez Herrera, according to CR Hoy.
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