Alfonso Portillo,Guatemala's Ex-president Extradited to US -Friday May 24,2013

Guatemala has extradited ex-president Alfonso Portillo to the United States to face charges of laundering $70m.

Portillo was put on a plane on Friday May 24,2013 under the escort of US agents

"Hasta luego (see you later), people of Guatemala," Portillo, 61, said, after describing his extradition as a "kidnapping" and accusing the Guatemalan  government of breaking the law

Alfonso Portillo was president from 2000 to 2004.
Following a request from a New York court, he was arrested in January 2010 as he was trying to flee to Belize. Portillo has described the case against him as a "political persecution".
Portillo was indicted by a US grand jury on charges of embezzling tens of millions of dollars of public funds and laundering the money through US and European banks, including $1.5m intended for Guatemalan school children.

In 2011, a Guatemalan court acquitted Portillo and two of his former ministers of conspiring to embezzle $15m from the Defense Ministry in 2001. His acquittal was confirmed by an appeals court in April