Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández took bribes from drug traffickers and had the country’s armed forces protect a cocaine laboratory and shipments to the United States, US prosecutors said in January. An accountant witnessed meetings between Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández and a drug trafficker in which they planned the trafficking of cocaine to the U.S., federal prosecutors in New York said Tuesday. But much of the prosecutors’ artillery appears aimed at Hernández, who they said helped Fuentes Ramírez’s drug trafficking along with other high-ranking officials. Prosecutors have previously said that Fuentes Ramírez paid Hernández US$25,000 to be allowed to move drugs through the country without interference. He says that the allegations against him come from drug traffickers seeking revenge and looking to lighten their sentences.

Source: The Standard March 10, 2021 05:03 UTC