Far-left President of Honduras Xiomara Castro announced on Tuesday that the Central American nation will continue to honor an over 110-year-old extradition treaty with the United States — reversing her 2024 decision to break the agreement during the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden.
Castro said that her administration reached an agreement with the administration of President Donald Trump to maintain the agreement ten days before it was set to expire.
“I announce that I have reached an agreement with the new administration of the United States so that the Extradition Treaty will continue with the necessary safeguards for the State of Honduras, guaranteeing its objective application,” Castro said on social media.
“Consequently, I have assured respect for the integrity of the Armed Forces, the institution responsible for defending sovereignty, maintaining peace,” she continued, “enforcing the rule of the Constitution and guaranteeing the security of our democratic electoral process. Foreign Minister [Enrique Reina] will provide more details later today.”
Anuncio que he llegado a un acuerdo con la nueva administración de los Estados Unidos para que el Tratado de Extradición continúe con las salvaguardas necesarias para el Estado de Honduras, garantizando su aplicación objetiva. En consecuencia he asegurado el respeto a la…
— Xiomara Castro de Zelaya (@XiomaraCastroZ) February 18, 2025
The United States and Honduras have maintained an extradition treaty since 1909. In August, Castro announced the unilateral termination of the century-old treaty on the grounds that the United States — during the administration of former President Biden — engaged in “interference and interventionism” and intended to “manage the politics of Honduras through its embassy and other representatives.” As a result, the agreement was scheduled to expire on February 28, 2025.
Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina explained on Tuesday that the extradition treaty will remain in force until January 27, 2026, upon reaching an agreement with representatives of the Trump administration. Reina described the talks with the U.S. government officials as “positive and based on respect and non-interference.”
“An agreement has been reached to continue the Extradition Treaty during this period, with safeguards that will maintain the integrity of the democratic system,” Reina said. “The treaty maintains the possibility of using extradition without any implications for the Armed Forces or the electoral process.”
The Foreign Minister asserted that it will be up to “the new government” to decide on the continuation of the extradition treaty beyond the recently-agreed January 2026 date. Honduras is slated to hold general elections on November 30, 2025, to elect a new president and members of Congress — all of whom will take office in January 2026.
According to Reina, both countries also discussed other subjects in addition to the extradition treaty such as migration, military services, and a review of terms of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Honduras and the United States.
President Xiomara Castro initially terminated the agreement in August 2024 in response to statements issued at the time by U.S. Ambassador to Tegucigalpa Laura F. Dogu, who expressed concerns over a meeting that Castro’s nephew and former Defense Minister José Manuel Zelaya Rosales held in Caracas with Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López — a man actively wanted by U.S. authorities on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine onboard an aircraft registered in the United States.
U.S. authorities have also accused Padrino López of being a leading figure of the Cartel of the Suns, an intercontinental cocaine trafficking operation run by high-ranking members of the Venezuelan military and by some leading figures of the Venezuelan regime. Socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro has been identified among its leaders. The cartel reportedly seeks to “flood” the United States with cocaine with the intent of harming its people.
Zelaya Rosales, who is also the nephew of former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, met with Padrino López on the sidelines of the 4th CISM World Cadet Games, a military sports event held in Venezuela in mid-August.
Days after Castro announced the now-reversed termination of the extradition treaty, Zelaya Rosales and his father, Carlos Zelaya, resigned from their respective government positions amid an ongoing probe against Carlos Zelaya over his alleged ties with drug traffickers. According to the probe, Carlos Zelaya allegedly met in 2013 with Juan Ramón Matta Waldurraga, son of Honduran drug trafficker Juan Ramón Matta Ballesteros — one of the leaders of the Los Cachiros drug gang serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison since 1990.
Since 2014, Honduras’s extradition treaty with the United States has reportedly allowed 64 Hondurans to face trial in U.S. courts on drug trafficking charges — including former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was extradited to the United States in 2022 and sentenced to 45 years in prison in June on drug and firearm-trafficking charges.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
