The United States, particularly under Trump, have continued playing an incoherent game in Honduras. Clearly, the incumbent president being named a co-conspirator in a drug trafficking conspiracy hasn’t been enough for the US to reassess its policy towards Honduras. The Biden administration has preferred an awkward strategy of working around JOH while still working with his administration, although not too closely – perhaps counting down the days until he leaves office, as if that will suddenly fix every other problem.
The US State Department has released three lists of corrupt officials in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, requested by Congress. All three lists have omitted to mention Juan Orlando Hérnandez or his relatives. A list released in May 2021 only listed the five incumbent deputies accused in the Arca Abierta scandal, as well as Nationalist deputy Óscar Nájera, who was sanctioned by the State Department under s. 7031(c) in 2019 for suspected ties to the Cachiros. In July and September 2021, the State Department released the so-called ‘Engel list’ of corrupt and undemocratic actors, which included 21 Honduran politicians – 13 of them incumbent members of Congress who were implicated in various corruption scandals (Pandora, Arca Abierta etc.). The list includes Pepe Lobo and his wife, but again JOH his conspicuous by his absence – something which Lobo himself has played upon to dismiss the list as a joke.
And it has been disclosed that JOH's name has been secretly included on the 'Engel list' as early as 1 July 2021. The US State Department has announced yesterday it has revoked his visa.
https://twitter.com/SecBlinken/status/1490795809692135438
A formal indictment and a request for extradition of the former president should be rapidly follow.
He's now being extradited to the US to face drug trafficking charges.
https://twitter.com/bpolitics/status/1504305589232574466
