Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández pleaded not guilty Tuesday to drug and arms trafficking in a New York court.
Hernández, extradited to the United States last month, faces three charges: criminal association to import cocaine, possession of weapons and destructive tools, and criminal association to use weapons and destructive tools. He is currently incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
“Not guilty, your honor,” the former president said Tuesday when Judge Kevin Castel, in federal court in Manhattan, asked him how he pleaded. Prosecutors said during the hearing that they have as evidence recordings, material stolen from electronic devices and intercepted conversations, among the evidence against the former president.
Hernández was president of Honduras four months ago and was once considered by US authorities to be a key ally in the drug war. However, US authorities say that between approximately 2004 and 2022, the former president participated in a conspiracy to allow drug cartels to send thousands of kilos of cocaine to the United States in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes.
On Tuesday, Raymond Colón, Hernández’s lawyer, complained to the judge about the little access he has had to his client and asked that he be removed from the solitary confinement to which he has been subjected in jail. He added that Hernandez has not been able to call his family and does not have access to money that his defense team has been trying to send him.
“He is being treated like a prisoner of war,” Colon said.
On the other hand, the judge asked the lawyers and prosecutors in the case on Tuesday to begin preparing the evidence for Hernández’s trial and to exchange them. He set September 28 as the date for a new hearing and said that in mid-January 2023 he should start selecting jurors.
Judge Castel already knows the case well. In 2019, he presided over the trial of a brother of the former president, former congressman Tony Hernández, who was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to life in prison. According to the US authorities, both brothers worked together to obtain bribes with money from the sale of the drug.
At a press conference in Washington last month, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said that Hernández “abused” his position as president to run Honduras as “a narco state” and that he received bribes from multiple cartels, including, when he was a congressman, the Sinaloa Cartel, once operated by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
According to US authorities, Hernández began to enrich himself with drug money since he was a congressman in Honduras and also used the money to promote his political campaigns for the presidency. For example, in 2013, when he was campaigning for president, he accepted approximately one million dollars from “El Chapo,” says the United States. The alleged payment was made to Tony Hernandez.
Colón told reporters after the hearing that he will request bail for Hernández but that he does not know exactly when.
The lawyer said that he will call leaders of previous US governments – among whom he mentioned former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump and current president Joe Biden – to testify in favor of the former president and also personnel from the US intelligence agency, more known as the CIA for its acronym in English.
Colon also said he would call “El Chapo” to testify. Guzman is serving a life sentence in the United States for drug trafficking.
Several dozen Hondurans gathered in front of the court with banners and megaphones to demonstrate against Hernández. “Here we have the narco president!” Some shouted.
According to the accusations, Hernández used bribes from drug traffickers to secure his rise in his country’s politics, including his election as president in 2013 and 2017. In both elections, Hernández asked drug traffickers to bribe politicians to ensure they supported him, according to the United States.
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