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The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, could be the first former Latin American president convicted of drug trafficking. The trial that began on Tuesday, February 20 in New York links him and other Honduran politicians to a corruption network that facilitated the entry of cocaine into the United States. The former president's defense argues that the accusations are based on testimonies from drug traffickers persecuted during his term. What will the trial bring? We analyze it in El Debate.
The trial began in New York against Honduran Juan Orlando Hernández, the first former Central American president to face the courts in the United States. He faces charges of drug trafficking and weapons use.
In its 2022 indictment, the DEA alleged that Hernández abused his position as president between 2014 and 2022 “to operate the country as a narco-state.”
They accuse him of participating in a corruption network to send cocaine to the United States for almost two decades, a network in which there would be alliances between drug traffickers, police, military and politicians of Honduras, including the president himself at that time, according to the United States.
Will Juan Orlando Hernández be the first former president to be convicted of drug trafficking in the United States? Or is the case based on lies from the drug traffickers he pursued, as the imprisoned politician claims? We discussed it in this edition of El Debate with two deputies:
– Nelson Márquez, deputy head of the bench of the National Party of Honduras, the political movement that supported former president Juan Orlando Hernández.
– Sergio Castellanos, deputy for the Liberty and Refoundation Party, known as LIBRE, which is aligned with the current left-wing president Xiomara Castro.
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