The president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, received millions of dollars in bribes from drug traffickers in exchange for protection, including Mexican boss Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán, New York prosecutor Jason Richman said on Wednesday at the start of the trial for drug trafficking of the president’s brother in a Manhattan court.
The prosecutor of the southern district of New York accuses former Honduran legislator Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández Alvarado, 41, of four drug trafficking crimes, possession of firearms and lying to the authorities. He has been imprisoned in the United States for almost a year, where he faces a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of life imprisonment.
Most importantly, the defendant was protected by the current president (of Honduras) who has received millions of dollars in drug traffickers such as Chapo Guzmán, who personally handed over a million dollars to the accused for his brother,”
the prosecutor told Jury in the initial arguments of the process.