Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said on Wednesday that allegations by U.S. prosecutors of his involvement with an organized crime could affect cooperation with Washington in fighting drug trafficking.
U.S. prosecutors, in a federal court filing in New York on Feb. 5, said Hernandez used Honduran law enforcement here and military officials to protect drug traffickers as part of a plan “to use drug trafficking to help assert power and control in Honduras.”
U.S. prosecutors have said Hernandez accepted a million-dollar bribe here from Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who was convicted in 2019 and is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.
Hernandez, while speaking to the Honduran Congress on Wednesday, said that members of the “Los Cahiros” cartel falsely accused him in an effort to seek shorter prison sentences. He warned U.S. officials that believing these allegations could compromise joint security efforts between Washington and Tegucigalpa.
“If certain offices in the United States make the mistake of rewarding drug traffickers who give false testimony, instead of increasing their penalties … then the battle that we have jointly waged with our allies against drug trafficking may become unsustainable because there will be loss of trust,” Hernandez said