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US Prosecutors Accuse Honduran President of Drug Conspiracy

Associated Press

   MEXICO CITY --U.S. federal prosecutors have accused the Honduran
   government of essentially functioning as a narco-state, with the
   current and former presidents having received campaign contributions
   from cocaine traffickers in exchange for protection.
   A 49-page document filed in New York's southern district on Friday
   refers to Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez as a co-conspirator
   who worked with his brother, Juan Antonio ``Tony'' Hernandez, and
   former President Porfirio Lobo ``to use drug trafficking to help assert
   power and control in Honduras.''
   It says that the president and his predecessor ``relied on drug
   proceeds'' to fund political campaigns and cites ``evidence of
   high-level political corruption.''
   The filing came months after other U.S. federal court documents showed
   the current president and some of his closest advisers were among the
   targets of a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation, casting
   further doubt on the United States' assertion that Honduras has helped
   stop the flow of drugs.

   U.S. support
   The U.S. government has been a staunch supporter of Hernandez's
   government, pouring millions of dollars into security cooperation to
   stop cocaine headed to the U.S. from South America.
   The office of the Honduran president said via Twitter on Saturday that
   Hernandez ``categorically denies the false and perverse accusations.''
   It later issued a separate, lengthier statement suggesting that the
   allegations in New York were put forward by drug dealers seeking
   retaliation against the president, who was head of the Central American
   country's congress in 2012 when the legislature authorized extradition
   of Honduran nationals to face drug-trafficking charges in the U.S.
   Since then, the president's office said, more than 40 Hondurans have
   been extradited and others have negotiated plea deals with U.S.
   officials in exchange for information.
   ``President Hernandez has been relentless in the fight against drug
   traffickers despite predictable reprisals, to the point that one of his
   17 siblings, a younger brother, is now being tried in New York,'' the
   office said.
   Specifically, New York prosecutors allege that the president used $1.5
   million in drug trafficking proceeds to help secure power in 2013. That
   campaign support came via cash bribes to Honduran officials as well as
   gifts and favors to local politicians, prosecutors argue. Hernandez won
   re-election in 2017, despite term limits in Honduras and widespread
   allegations of election fraud.

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