Honduras to denounce extradition treaty with US, after ambassador criticises

Honduran President Xiomara Castro has ordered her foreign minister to denounce the extradition treaty with the United States, citing “interference” and “interventionism” by Washington, following critical statements by the American ambassador in Tegucigalpa.

Diplomat Laura Dogu expressed her concern in the media on Wednesday after seeing images of a meeting in Venezuela between the Honduran Minister of Defense, Manuel Zelaya, and the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Roosevelt Hernández, sitting “next to a drug trafficker,” without giving further details.

In the photographs of the meeting, Zelaya appears with his Venezuelan counterpart, Vladimir Padrino, who has been accused by the District of Columbia of conspiring between 2014 and 2019 to distribute cocaine aboard an aircraft registered in the United States.

“The interference and interventionism of the United States, as well as its intention to direct the politics of Honduras through its embassy and other representatives, is intolerable,” Castro said in X when announcing his decision on Wednesday.

The leftist president has been one of the few leaders to congratulate Nicolás Maduro on his recent electoral victory, which has not been recognised by the opposition and has been questioned by governments in several countries.

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