© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez sits together with his legal professionals in entrance of U.S. District Decide Kevin Castel as he seems on U.S. drug trafficking costs in the beginning of his trial in a courthouse in New York, U.S., February 20, 2024 i
By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez labored “hand in hand” with drug traffickers who fueled his rise to energy with thousands and thousands of {dollars} in bribes, a U.S. prosecutor stated on Wednesday in his opening assertion at Hernandez’s trial.
Hernandez was near Washington throughout his 2014-2022 tenure. Honduras acquired greater than $50 million in U.S. anti-narcotics help and tens of thousands and thousands extra in safety and navy assist throughout his presidency, and he received help from former President Donald Trump for cracking down on migration.
Three months after he left workplace, nonetheless, federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged him with accepting thousands and thousands of {dollars} in bribes from cocaine traffickers in trade for utilizing his place to guard them. Lawyer Common Merrick Garland stated he abused his energy to function the nation as a “narco-state.”
“For years, he labored hand in hand with a number of the largest and most violent drug traffickers in Honduras to ship ton after ton of cocaine right here, to america,” prosecutor David Robles stated.
Hernandez, 55, has pleaded not responsible. His protection lawyer was anticipated to provide a gap assertion in a while Wednesday. He has argued that drug traffickers have smeared him to hunt to lighten their very own sentences and to extract revenge over his administration’s regulation enforcement actions.
Robles acknowledged that Hernandez publicly professed to struggle drug trafficking, and at instances labored with america to take action.
“However behind the scenes he made positive that drug traffickers who remained loyal to him have been protected,” Robles stated.
Among the many traffickers Hernandez protected was his brother, Robles stated. Hernandez’s brother, former congressman Tony Hernandez, was convicted on U.S. medication costs in 2019 and sentenced to life in jail.
Earlier in February, two co-defendants who have been initially set to be tried alongside Hernandez – his cousin Mauricio Hernandez and former Honduras nationwide police chief Juan Carlos Bonilla – pleaded responsible to drug trafficking.
He faces a compulsory minimal sentence of 40 years and as much as life in jail if convicted on all counts. The trial started with jury choice on Tuesday and is anticipated to final between two and three weeks.