Juan Orlando Hernández.
Credit: Sean Gallup / Getty Images
(CNN Spanish) -
A witness from the New York prosecutor's office in the case against the alleged Honduran drug trafficker, Geovanny Fuentes, said on Tuesday that he witnessed meetings between the latter and the president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, in which the president assured that they could traffic drugs through Honduran territory with the support of the military, police, and the country's attorney general, Oscar Chinchilla.
During the hearing, the witness who used the pseudonym “José Sánchez” to protect his safety, as explained by the prosecution, said that he fled his country in 2015 because he considered that his life was in danger after being present at two meetings between Hernández and Fuentes. .
MIRA: What could be the link of the president of Honduras with a case of drug trafficking in the United States?
“José Sánchez” worked as an accountant in a rice company in Honduras.
According to the witness, this company was used to launder money from drug trafficking and it was there that the meetings between the current mandatory and Fuentes were held.
“I didn't believe what I was seeing at the time.
I was seeing the presidential candidate meeting with a drug trafficker, ”said“ José Sánchez ”.
As he testified, the meetings took place in 2013. Juan Orlando Hernández assumed the presidency of Honduras in January 2014.
The witness added that, at that meeting, Hernández told Fuentes that he did not have to worry about justice, since he had the support of the attorney general, Oscar Chinchilla, and that the transfer of the drug through Honduras would be done with the support of military and police.
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CNN contacted the Chinchilla prosecutor's office to find out their reaction to these allegations, the Public Ministry spokesman indicated that they would not comment at the moment.
Recently during a virtual meeting of the prosecutors of the member countries of the Northern Triangle in August 2020, Chinchilla expressed his willingness to work together to confront transnational crime, “fundamentally this year, first we are going to focus on the issue of combating the drug trafficking, "said the Honduran prosecutor.
In his testimony, “José Sánchez” also said that he heard the current president of Honduras tell Fuentes: "We are going to put drugs in the gringos under their noses and they will not realize it."
According to “José Sánchez”, during that meeting Fuentes gave Juan Orlando Hernández a briefcase with US $ 15,000 in order to finance his presidential campaign.
According to the testimony of “José Sánchez”, Hernández told Fuentes that he was going to pass on the number of his brother Tony Hernández so that he could make himself available to him.
MIRA: Without being in the dock, they mention President Juan Orlando Hernández in the trial of an alleged drug trafficker in New York
Hernández's defense
This is not the first time that President Hernández has been singled out for authorizing drug trafficking through Honduras.
Documents presented by US federal prosecutors in January in this case indicate that the president of Honduras allegedly made a profit by working to introduce cocaine into the United States, a claim that the Honduran Presidential House described as "100% false."
Hernández did not respond to requests for comment from CNN.
However, when he started the trial against Fuentes last week, the president wrote on Twitter: “How to believe false testimonies that I was dealing with drug traffickers, when it is proven that the Cachiros sought a deal with the US for the impossible of criminals to make a deal with me ”.
Hernández added: "They are going to die in a foreign jail, if the Magic Key doesn't work for them."
Geovanny Fuentes, was arrested in March 2020 at Miami International Airport and 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. United.
Fuentes pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in June 2020.
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 others. countries, such as Colombia and Guatemala.
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 destructive weapons and devices and making false statements to authorities.
Juan Antonio Hernández Alvarado has pleaded not guilty to all charges and decided not to testify during the trial, now awaiting his sentence.
In a letter sent to the judge in the "Tony" Hernandez case this week, New York prosecutors are calling for the defendant to be sentenced to life in prison, hand over $ 138.5 million and pay a $ 10 million fine.
In 2018, the Public Ministry of Honduras, led by Chinchilla, required “Tony” Hernández as an investigator and ordered the seizure of assets of the former deputy and brother of President Hernández.
Juan Orlando Hernandez
