The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
March 11, 2024

Jury Convicts Ex-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández on Drug Trafficking Charges
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In New York, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was found
guilty of cocaine trafficking after a two-week trial. Federal
prosecutors had accused Hernández of ruling the Central American country
as a narco-state, accepting millions of dollars in bribes from drug
traffickers in exchange for protection. Celebrations erupted following
Friday's verdict. This is a Honduran activist speaking outside
Manhattan's federal courthouse.

Lida Perdomo: "The rotten political class we have has brought the
country to total collapse. And everyone we see here, this entire
community thirsting for justice, is a clear example of a society in
total collapse that has been trampled on and sunk by corrupt
politicians."

Hernández was arrested in February 2022, less than a month after his
presidential term ended, and extradited to the U.S. in April of 2022. He
was a longtime U.S. ally. His brother is already serving a life sentence
in the U.S for smuggling cocaine. Juan Orlando Hernández faces life in
prison, as well. We'll have more on the trial later in the show.


.