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Tegucigalpa: Honduras said on Wednesday (Aug 28) it would end its extradition treaty with the United States used to jail drug traffickers, accusing Washington of interfering in Honduras-Venezuela relations.
“US interference and interventionism, and its intention to manage Honduran politics through its embassy and other representatives, cannot be tolerated,” Honduran President Xiomara Castro said on social media platform X. She has ordered the Foreign Ministry to terminate the treaty.
“They are recklessly attacking, ignoring and violating the principles and customs of international law that advocate respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of peoples, non-interference in internal affairs and universal peace. Enough is enough,” the leftist leader said.
Castro’s government is a staunch ally of Venezuela, but the country is now facing pressure from Washington and other countries since the re-election of President Nicolas Maduro.
Castro said she had asked Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reyna to “condemn” the country’s extradition treaty with the United States.
Under international law, withdrawal is a unilateral act by a state seeking to end its participation in a treaty.
After Castro’s announcement, the government sent a note to the diplomatic corps in Washington stating its decision to terminate the treaty. Reina shared the letter on social media.
The extradition agreement is seen as a key tool in dismantling the “narco-state” that U.S. authorities say was created during Juan Orlando Hernández’s presidency of Honduras from 2014 to 2022.
Over the past decade, 50 Hondurans accused of drug trafficking have been extradited to the United States, including Hernandez, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison in New York in June.
Russell Tomé, vice president of the Honduran Congress, told AFP that under international law the two countries must sit down and analyze Honduras’ decision, “and if both sides agree, the agreement can go ahead.”
Earlier, the US Ambassador to Honduras, Laura Dogu, expressed concern about a meeting between Honduran authorities and Venezuelan Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, who is under US sanctions.
Dagou told reporters she was surprised to see Honduran Defense Minister Jose Manuel Zelaya and the country’s military chief sitting next to a Venezuelan “drug trafficker.”
Reina called the ambassador’s comments “a direct threat to our independence and sovereignty.”
He noted that Honduran officials had visited Venezuela to participate in sports competitions at the World Youth Games.
Honduras was one of a handful of Latin American countries to congratulate Maduro on his controversial re-election on July 28.
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