Juan Orlando Hernández.
Credit: Sean Gallup / Getty Images
(CNN) -
Documents presented this Friday by United States federal prosecutors in a New York court indicate that the president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, allegedly profited by working to introduce cocaine into the United States with an alleged drug trafficker, pointing out that the Presidential House of Honduras qualified as “100% false”.
According to the documents, Hernández even promised to protect the alleged drug trafficker from possible arrest and extradition.
The accusations against Hernández, who has not been formally accused by US authorities, arise in motions filed before the state's Southern District court to validate evidence in a preliminary trial against Geovanny Fuentes Ramírez, a man who was arrested in March 2020 in Miami International Airport and that he has been charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and with crimes related to the use of high-caliber weapons and destructive devices, according to the United States Department of Justice.
According to prosecutors, Fuentes was one of several drug traffickers who between 2004 and 2020 paid bribes to authorities in Honduras, such as politicians and law enforcement officials, to produce and ship hundreds of kilograms of cocaine each month to the United States via other countries. like Colombia and Guatemala.
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Fuentes also allegedly worked alongside Juan Antonio Hernández Alvarado, brother of the Honduran president, and who was convicted in October 2019 in a New York court of conspiring to transport drugs to the United States, illegal possession of weapons, conspiracy to use weapons and destructive devices and making false statements to authorities.
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Juan Antonio Hernández Alvarado has pleaded not guilty to all charges and chose not to testify during the trial, CNN reported then.
For his part, Fuentes pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in June 2020, according to media reports.
Lawyers for the defendant, who is in prison in New York, did not respond to requests for comment sent Saturday by CNN.
More accusations against President Hernández
Credit: Sean Gallup / Getty Images
The Honduran president is not mentioned by name in motions filed by prosecutors in New York.
Instead, they identify him as CC-4 (co-conspirator number 4) and describe him as the brother of Juan Antonio Hernández Alvarado.
They add that, in 2013, CC-4 "sought to be elected as the president of Honduras as a member of the National Party of Honduras."
Juan Orlando Hernández won the Presidency of Honduras in November 2013 by the National Party.
The motions presented reveal new details of the alleged participation that, according to the allegations, the current president Hernández would have had in the drug trafficking network together with his brother and Fuentes.
They take up, for example, that CC-4 allegedly received in 2013 about US $ 1 million from drug trafficking proceeds from the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, an accusation that came to light during the trial. by Juan Antonio Hernández Alvarado and which has been rejected by the Honduran president.
Elsewhere in the documents, prosecutors say Fuentes gave "large sums of money" for CC-4's presidential campaign and that, in return, "CC-4 promised protection to the accused from arrests and extradition;
He promised to help the defendant transport cocaine with the help of the Honduran Armed Forces, and directed the defendant to work directly with Tony Hernández (Juan Antonio), CC-4's brother, to import huge quantities of cocaine into the United States.
The documents add that the Honduran president would have said that he wanted the Drug Control Administration (DEA) to think that the country was fighting drug trafficking, but that instead, he would eliminate extradition and “ I would put the drugs right under the noses of the 'gringos' ».
Fuentes "was excited to have the protection of CC-4 and agreed to work with his brother to import cocaine into the United States," the motions explain.
The Presidency of Honduras denied this Saturday any link between the president and Fuentes.
"The version that Pdte @ JuanOrlandoH allegedly accepted drug money from a Geovanny Daniel Fuentes Ramírez, or gave protection or coordination to drug traffickers, is 100% false and appears to be based on lies from confessed criminals seeking revenge," he wrote in a message from Twitter
In another message on the same social network, he added that “the administration of Pdte.
@JuanOrlandoH has been recognized as a trusted and effective partner by allied countries in the fight against drug trafficking.
Juan Orlando Hernandez
