TEGUCIGALPA – The Honduran foreign ministry said Wednesday it will suspend a more than century-old extradition treaty with the United States after Washington’s ambassador expressed concern about a meeting between Honduran and Venezuelan defense officials.
In a letter sent by Foreign Minister Enrique Reyna to the US Embassy on social media, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Honduras expressed “the decision of the Government of the Republic of Honduras to cancel the extradition treaty.”
On Wednesday morning, Honduran President Xiomara Castro issued a denunciation – the unilateral withdrawal of the agreement under international law – and accused Washington of meddling in his country’s affairs.
“The intervention and meddling of the United States, as well as the intention to direct Honduran politics through its embassy and other representatives, is intolerable,” the leftist leader wrote on social media.
The US Embassy in Honduras did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US Ambassador to Honduras Laura Dogu previously told local television reporters that the United States was concerned after last week’s meeting between Honduran Defense Minister Jose Manuel Zelaya and his Venezuelan counterpart, Vladimir Padrino.
Zelaya was also attended by the chiefs of the country’s military joint staff. Doğu said he was “surprised” to meet with “drug dealers”.
The United States indicted Padrino in 2020 for drug trafficking.
“Insinuating or implicating us as drug traffickers and disqualifying our authority is really a direct threat to our independence and sovereignty,” Reina said on social media.
Honduras is a staunch ally of the socialist government of Venezuela.
The extradition treaty allowed the extradition of high-profile Hondurans, including former president Juan Orlando Hernandez and former police chief Juan Carlos Bonilla.
Hernandez, a one-time US ally, was extradited to the US after Castro took office in 2022 and has since been tried and convicted in US courts on drug-trafficking charges.