U.S. seeks extradition of Honduras' ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández just 3 weeks after he left office

Tegucigalpa, Honduras — After years of speculation in Honduras, the United States formally requested the arrest and extradition of former President Juan Orlando Hernández less than three weeks after he left office. Honduran security forces surrounded Hernández's neighborhood Monday night and the Supreme Court of Justice scheduled an urgent meeting Tuesday morning to select a judge to handle the extradition request. A standoff ensued.   In a video released by Hernández's legal team, apparently from inside his home, attorney Félix Ávila said that everything would have to wait until the Supreme Court designated a judge on Tuesday to consider the case. "Meanwhile, it is understood that no arrest order exists."   However, at a police barrier to the neighborhood, Rasel Tomé, vice president of the newly elected National Congress, said Hernández had to turn himself in or he would be captured at 6 a.m. Tuesday.   Shortly before that deadline, Hernández released an audio recording via Twitter thanking those praying for him.   "It is not an easy moment," he said. "I don't desire it for anyone."

He said the National Police had already been informed by his lawyers that "I am ready and prepared to cooperate and go voluntarily with their accompaniment in the moment the judge designated by the honorable Supreme Court of Justice decides it, to able to face this situation and defend myself."   It was a long-awaited fall for a leader reviled in his home country, who enjoyed support from the Trump administration but has been kept at arm's length by a Biden White House targeting Central America's endemic corruption as a root cause of migration.   The specific charges Hernández's faces are not known, but federal prosecutors in New York had previously named him a co-conspirator in a drug trafficking case, alleging that his political rise was fueled with drug profits. Hernández has long denied any wrongdoing.   U.S. officials confirmed the extradition request to CBS News on Tuesday, but the Department of Justice would not give any information on the nature of the accusations against Hernández.

Hernández left office January 27 with the swearing in of President Xiomara Castro.