2024-02-22 01:29:22
The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández Alvarado, continues to face justice in the United States, who accuses him of crimes related to drug trafficking.
Almost two years after his arrest and extradition to the United States, Hernández goes on trial in federal court in Manhattan, accused of drug trafficking and armed crimes. This Tuesday the jury selection took place.
According to federal authorities, for almost two decades Hernández profited from the trade of hundreds of thousands of kilos of cocaine brought into the United States, and at times cooperated with the powerful Mexican Sinaloa cartel.
The millions of dollars from drug trafficking that Hernández began receiving around 2004, in turn, served to finance his rise, from legislator representing a rural province in western Honduras to president of the National Congress and two presidential terms from 2014 to 2022, prosecutors say.
In a letter published on Monday, the former president (2014-2022) reiterated that he is “innocent” and “a victim of revenge.”
“I am innocent, I am a victim of revenge and a conspiracy by organized crime and political enemies,” said the former ruler in the letter published on the X network by his wife, Ana García.