For many years, the United States considered former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández a key ally until circumstances turned upside down. Hernández appeared before U.S. courts charged with "building a corrupt and violent empire" to smuggle tons of drugs into America. Federal prosecutors allege that from 2004 to 2022, Hernández received millions of dollars in bribes from drug trafficking organizations, including from imprisoned Mexican drug lord "El Chapo," and that the President of Honduras turned his country into a drug state. In court documents, prosecutors wrote that Hernández worked for years with "violent drug traffickers to harm the United States," and told his co-conspirators that he wanted to "stuff Americans' noses with drugs," according to the U.S. site "Business Insider." Prosecutors claimed in the indictment that Hernández "abused his position as President of Honduras to manage the country as a drug state" and used drug trafficking proceeds "to enrich himself, fund his political campaigns, and rig elections to ensure his victory in 2013 and re-election in 2017."
Yesterday, Hernández's high-profile trial on drug and arms trafficking charges began in Manhattan federal court, starting with jury selection. The United States had worked with Honduras to amend the constitution to allow for the extradition of citizens to Washington, under which the U.S. received Hernández, who was arrested shortly after leaving office in 2022. If convicted on the charges against him, Hernández, who pleaded not guilty, could spend the rest of his life in a U.S. prison.
