Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Honduras on Tuesday highlighted an official US report praising Juan Orlando Hernández’s government in the fight against drug trafficking, despite the fact that the ruler is under investigation for alleged links to this crime.
“This report confirms the efforts we have made as a government on security,” Security Minister Julián Pacheco said in a statement.
The State Department report says that “the United States continues to help develop the capacity of Honduran institutions to fight drug trafficking, corruption and other criminal cases.”
It also highlights that “the Honduran authorities have shown that by 2020 they are in a better position to ban drug traffickers.”
“During the first nine months of 2020, Honduran authorities claimed to have seized about 2.8 tons of cocaine, more than the 2.2 tons seized in calendar year 2019,” the report said.
The State Department also said that “the Honduran government’s political will to combat drug trafficking in conjunction with US law enforcement agencies continues.”
Defense Secretary Fredy Díaz, for his part, stressed that Honduras is no longer “the land of drug transportation” from South America to the United States.
This report is known weeks after US prosecutors launched an investigation against President Hernández – identified with the code CC-4– and other senior officials of the country, after being associated with drug trafficking.
Trial against Geovany Fuentes
The person accusing them is Geovany Daniel Fuentes, one of the Honduran bosses tried before New York’s Southern District Court.
The prosecutors’ letter states that in 2013 CC-4 had “solicited major campaign contributions … and described his involvement in widespread public corruption in Honduras, including the misappropriation of US aid.”
The president had already been named for this crime in the US trial of his younger brother, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, who was imprisoned in that country after being found guilty of “widespread” drug trafficking.
On Monday, a demonstration of black-clad women marched in Tegucigalpa, calling on the president to leave, as he is involved in corruption. On their posters they had written the phrase “go JOH”, the ruler’s initials.
The president dismisses the charges against him, claiming that they are reprisals of well-known drug traffickers extradited to the United States by his government.
According to Hernández, 25 capos were extradited to that country, 15 surrendered and five were arrested by US authorities.