Protesters gathered outside a federal courthouse in New York as former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez attended a court hearing after his extradition to the United States on drug trafficking charges.
"We're celebrating the end of a dictator that brought to this country violence, a narco state," said Kamia Murillo, a protester and a native of Honduras.
Hernandez appeared virtually in federal court in New York to face drug trafficking and weapons charges after he was arrested in Honduras and extradited to the United States.
He boarded an airplane in Honduras with agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Thursday and arrived in the New York area early Friday.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Hernández abused his position as president of Honduras "to operate the country as a narco-state." Hernández has denied any wrongdoing. In a video message released Thursday, he said he is being "unjustly subjected to prosecution."
Additional reporting by The Associated Press.
