On Tuesday, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez took the witness stand in his own defense at a trial in New York. Hernandez denied charges that he joined with drug dealers and protected them in exchange for millions in bribes.
This came after testimony for the prosecution by drug traffickers who testified in hopes of earning leniency from a sure-to-be lengthy prison sentence in exchange for cooperating.
The traffickers claim he protected the drug trade and was enriched by millions of dollars in return. They also claim the money he received helped his rise to power.
Prosecutors allege that Hernandez used the Honduran army and police to help protect traffickers and move cocaine through the country that was earmarked for America.
The former president was viewed as supportive of American interests in the region by Democratic and Republican administrations in the past.
Hernandez, in casting himself as an anti-drug crusader, says he did everything he could to help the United States in its war on drugs and extradited dozens of individuals.
"I said any request of extradition by the United States was to be granted," Hernandez said.
One witness who testified said he trafficked tens of millions of dollars worth of drugs while Hernandez was a mayor in Honduras, but Hernandez insisted that he did not promise any protection from prosecution for drug traffickers in exchange for not seeking another term as mayor.
"Never," Hernandez said through an interpreter. Juan Antonio Hernandez, the former president's brother and a former Honduran congressman, was sentenced in 2021 to life in prison following a conviction on drug charges.
Prosecutors contend that Juan Hernandez obtained and distributed millions of dollars in bribes from 2004 to 2019 to politicians.
This allegedly included $1 million from Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman for his brother, Juan Orlando Hernandez.
The former Honduran president was arrested at his home in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, in February 2022 three months after leaving, and was extradited to the United States two months later.
