Peru: Ex-President Toledo Asks the US to Stop His Extradition

On Thursday, former President Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) asked a U.S. federal judge to prevent his extradition to Peru, where he is accused of corruption in the Odebrecht case.

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Before District Court of Columbia's Judge Beryl Howell, he filed an urgent motion to "stay detention and extradition," thus seeking to stop the arrest warrant issued on Wednesday by California Judge Thomas Hixson to send him to Peru.

Toledo, who currently resides in San Francisco, is required to turn himself in to authorities on Friday morning at the Northern District Court of California in San Jose. Although the Peruvian politician was due to be arrested on April 7, he has so far managed to delay his extradition through legal maneuvers.

The Ninth Circuit of Appeals, however, denied his request for a new hearing. For this reason, the U.S. Attorney's Office asked the judge on Wednesday to reactivate the arrest warrant.

The 77-year-old politician was arrested in 2019 in California where he spent 8 months in prison. In March 2020, he was placed under house arrest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Sept. 2022, the U.S. Justice found sufficient evidence to authorize his extradition to Peru, a decision endorsed by the State Department in February.

According to the Peruvian authorities, the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht gave Toledo some US$34 million in bribes that were later laundered by companies in tax havens.

In Peru, the Odebrecht case also affected former Peruvian presidents Alan García (1985-1990 and 2006-2011), Ollanta Humala (2011-2016) and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018), as well as the far-right presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, who is the daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000).