Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez
TEGUCIGALPA, Oct 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez emerged battered from the trial and conviction of his brother on Friday after the U.S. Justice Department concluded that the evidence showed narco-traffickers had bribed the president and his party.
A U.S. jury on Friday found President Hernandez’ brother, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernandez, guilty of conspiring to import cocaine, illicit weapons possession and lying to U.S. authorities.
U.S. prosecutors did not indict President Hernandez. But the Department of Justice reiterated in a statement after the verdict that as a candidate and then president, Hernandez received drug money for his electoral campaigns, including from Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Hernandez, who took office in 2014, has repeatedly denied the allegations.
The Central American leader may now reckon with dwindling support at home, where local press avidly covered the two-week trial.
He also may be more reliant than ever on support from the U.S. government. Long praised as a key U.S. ally in the drug war, he has under President Donald Trump faced intense pressure to partner in the U.S. effort to curb migration flows.
Witnesses at the trial alleged that President Hernandez pledged to protect his brother from extradition and called for bribing mayors in Copan, a department bordering Guatemala and a notorious gateway for cocaine trafficking, to secure power for himself and the ruling National Party.
Hernandez says the allegations are the fabrications of criminals bent on revenge for his efforts against organised crime.
“I reaffirm that it is false that I have received or accepted money from these criminals … I reiterate my total rejection on behalf of the Honduran people of the suggestion that our country is a narco state,” he said in a speech on Thursday.
He also defended his anti-corruption legacy in the Thursday address and on Twitter after Friday’s guilty verdict.
Luis Zelaya, president of the opposition Liberal Party, told reporters that the party would demand that Hernandez leave power to be replaced with a transitional government.
“It is no longer a suspicion he is involved in drug trafficking,” Zelaya said. “He has to be accused.” — NNN-AGENCIES