The federal trial of ex-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is underway in New York City, as U.S. prosecutors seek to paint Hernández as a leader who was overseeing a narco-state in the Central American nation. The trial began on February 21, nearly two years after Hernández was arrested and extradited from Honduras to face the charges in the United States.
Office of U.S. Vice President, Public domain
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence meeting with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández. In March 2017, Pence called him "a good friend and a key ally on promoting security, stability, and democracy in Central America."
Hernández faces charges of conspiring to import cocaine to the United States and charges of carrying weapons “in furtherance of the cocaine importation conspiracy.” If convicted, he could face forty years to life in prison.
Hernández, commonly known as JOH, was once a key U.S. ally in Central America. His administration received support from both the Obama and Trump Administrations, but received praise from the Trump Administration for his assistance in addressing migration and drug trafficking. However, Trump remained silent on the crackdown on protesters in 2017 and 2018 following his illegal re-election in the 2017 electoral cycle.
The trial has taken the popular imagination in Honduras by storm, with many people following the twists and turns in the case.
“Everyone here is paying attention to what is happening in New York,” Julio Raudales, a Honduran economist and sociologist and current vice chancellor of the National Autonomous University of Honduras, tells The Progressive. “Public opinion here in the country is focused on that and we have forgotten some other problems that the country faces.”
He adds, “It is very evident that [this has affected] the image of Honduras, the perception of corruption and shady affairs is more evident than in any other country.”
According to prosecutors, Hernández was constructing a “narco state” in Honduras through his alliances with cartels, which involved financing his campaign. In testimony on February 27, an ex-member of the Sinaloa drug cartel said that Hernández was given $2.4 million from the cartel in order to assist in his 2013 campaign for president.
Hernández was first elected president of Honduras in 2013. Previously, he had spent thirteen years serving in the National Congress representing the Lempira department for the conservative National Party. He was the head of congress for four years.
According to prosecutors, Hernández was constructing a “narco state” in Honduras through his alliances with cartels, which involved financing his campaign.
He was illegally re-elected as president in November 2017. His controversial re-election was facilitated by the Supreme Court of Honduras which modified the country’s constitution so he could run for re-election earlier that year—a tactic that has been used by other authoritarian governments in the region in order to win re-election, most recently by Nayib Bukele in El Salvador.
His time in office was marked by extreme human rights violations, including attacks on human rights defenders and the high-profile assassination of environmental activist Berta Caceres in 2016. His re-election and the subsequent crackdown on protests and activists contributed to the massive migration from Honduras that gained international attention in 2018.
In 2019, Hernández was implicated in the drug conspiracy case against his brother and former congressional representative Tony Hernández. His brother was sentenced to life in prison in 2021.
Drug traffickers have gained increased influence in politics across Latin America. But the case against Hernández has exposed how weak the Honduran judicial system is to address such cases of corruption.
“It seems to me that it is impossible for the Honduran justice system to be able to hear these types of cases,” Raudales says.
“It seems to me that it is impossible for the Honduran justice system to be able to hear these types of cases,”—Julio Raudales
“Corruption cleans [its hands] itself in this country,” Raudales explains. “The justice system has been very weak for a long time. It is very corrupt. But I think that instead of improving things, the perception is that everything is getting worse in the justice system in the country, that nothing at all is changing.”
The administration of Xiomara Castro, who took office in early 2023, has promised that her administration will address systemic corruption and impunity.
In order to do this she has proposed the establishment of a United Nations-backed anti-impunity body inspired by the renowned International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which closed in 2019. The establishment of the International Commission Against Impunity in Honduras, or CICIH, has been slow, as the country has not taken all the steps required by the United Nations in order to establish such a body.
While a new supreme court was elected in 2023, and a new attorney general in November 2023—both of which are key for the establishment of the anti-impunity body—Raudales says that there is still no sign that there has been a change.
He concludes, “There are [currently] no conditions [in Honduras] for an [anti-impunity] commission to be established.”
While the efforts to advance with the establishment of the CICIH are slow, the case against Hernández in the United States has highlighted the need for such a body.
The revelation of the former president’s role in drug trafficking has highlighted the need to disarticulate the networks of narco-influence and power in the region. But this is harder than it appears, as narco networks are myriad, and the destruction of one sphere of influence, in this case the power of Hernández, allows others to fill that void.
“There were always structures that could re-form themselves,” Raudales says. “They are like a hydra.”