He was arrested by Interpol in El Salvador in 2019, but the Supreme Court turned down Guatemala’s extradition request.
In the second semester of 2019, Juan Carlos Bidegaín Hananía, the newly appointed Interior Minister, was imprisoned in El Salvador and placed under the orders of a San Salvador justice of the peace in response to a red broadcast or an international arrest warrant issued. by the International Police (Interpol), according to documents from the Salvadoran court.
A law of October 24, 2019 of the Supreme Court states that (after being arrested by Interpol of El Salvador) the Second Justice of the Peace of San Salvador decided to send him to protective custody ” based on a distribution Interpol issued red for the alleged committing a crime in Guatemala ”.
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Yesterday, El Diario de Hoy tried to contact Bidegaín Hananía to answer questions about his appointment and his legal situation in Guatemala; however, no answer was obtained. At the Department of the Interior, he referred us to a phone number in the presidential house, to which they did not answer.
Always in 2019, the Guatemalan authorities started proceedings before the Supreme Court of El Salvador to extradite Bidegaín Hananía. This was denied by the Salvadoran judicial body. “A presentation is made on the chronologically documented events in the petition (extradition request) telling that the events started with their execution in this city and later in Guatemala City, along with other elements reported by the complainant. After analyzing the legal framework and the territoriality principle of criminal law, the origin of the facts under investigation in our country will be proven and for this purpose the Attorney General will be ordered to certify… ”.
Of the 15 magistrates who attended the plenary session of the court, the document of May 28, 2020 states that three magistrates did not vote in the declaration of inadmissibility of the extradition request. According to the court, the magistrates who did not vote were Aldo Cáder, Carlos Sánchez and Sandra Luz Chicas.
I couldn’t leave El Salvador
According to lawyers who have been consulted on the international arrest warrant but have asked not to be identified, the fact that the Salvadoran Supreme Court declared the extradition request inadmissible does not mean that the officer cannot be arrested if he leaves El Salvador.
El Diario de Hoy investigated whether the red broadcast against Bidegaín Hananía is still in effect on the Interpol website, but it could not be confirmed at this time.
According to sources claiming to know the case and court documents, the crime for which the Guatemalan authorities demand Bidegaín Hananía was committed while he was in Guatemala.
Bidegaín Hananía married a person from Guatemala, from whom she divorced after leaving for El Salvador.
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In mid-2020, after the court rejected the extradition request, the Salvadoran official went to a family court to divorce his wife, who had been divorced for more than a year. Bidegaín Hananía’s wife was summoned through edicts published in national newspapers. Informants told El Diario de Hoy that the events attributed to the now interior minister were so serious that the victims even decided to leave Guatemala.
Son of the Minister of Education
Bidegaín Hananía is the son of the Minister of Education, Carla Evelyn Hananía de Varela.
Despite the fact that President Nayib Bukele attacked employees and government officials of the FMLN Party at the beginning of his term and pointed out practices of nepotism, he himself allowed it in his government. Bidegaín Hananía, for example, has held important positions. He was an adviser to the Deputy Secretary of Transportation’s office with a salary of $ 3,621.