Honduran president says U.S. probe of his alleged drug ties could scuttle cooperation with Washingto

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

FEBRUARY 24, 20216:43 PM UPDATED 8 HOURS AGO
Honduran president says U.S. probe of his alleged drug ties could scuttle cooperation with Washington
By Gustavo Palencia

3 MIN READ

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said on Wednesday that allegations by U.S. prosecutors of his involvement with organized crime could affect cooperation with Washington in fighting drug trafficking.

U.S. prosecutors, in a federal court filing in New York on Feb. 5, said Hernandez used Honduran law enforcement here and military officials to protect drug traffickers as part of a plan “to use drug trafficking to help assert power and control in Honduras.”

U.S. prosecutors have said Hernandez accepted a million-dollar bribe here from Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who was convicted in 2019 and is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.

Hernandez has denied the allegations and he has not been charged with a crime.
Hernandez, while speaking to the Honduran Congress on Wednesday, said that members of the “Los Cahiros” cartel falsely accused him in an effort to seek shorter prison sentences. He warned U.S. officials that believing these allegations could compromise joint security efforts between Washington and Tegucigalpa.




Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-honduras-drugs/honduran-president-says-u-s-probe-of-his-alleged-drug-ties-could-scuttle-cooperation-with-washington-idUSKBN2AP02H?rpc=401&

[rpannier]

1. Don't cooperate and are really involved. I have two words

Manuel Noriega

[sandensea]

3. +1

Under Orlando Hernández, Honduras has become the main transshipment point for Colombian cocaine (and heroin) into the U.S.

No wonder Trump was so happy with him.

Good boy: Then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hosts Honduran President Orlando Hernández at the State Department in late 2017.

Orlando's brother Tony is a convicted drug trafficker, and cocaine exports from Honduras have soared under his regime.

The event was the kind of photo-op few heads of state - even close allies - receive anymore, thus implying staunch approval for the visitor.

[burrowowl]

2. Was he the one plunked in by Obama?

[sandensea]

4. Indirectly

Obama didn't install Hernández - a rigged election did that.

But yes: U.S. support for the 2009 coup that ousted populist leader Manuel Zelaya paved the way for two regimes (Lobo, then Hernández) that have systemically turned Honduras into both a refugee-generating human rights disaster and the favored springboard for Colombian cocaine and heroin.

For Obama, unintended consequences - but neo-cons and Wall Street got their way.

They usually do.

[LiberalLovinLug]

5. That was a shameful chapter in Obama's term

With Hillary Clinton running the State Department. One of the "unintended consequences" was first the murder of Berta Cáceres a world wide respected and fearless indigenous environmental activist, then last year, Félix Vásquez, a veteran leader of the indigenous Lenca people, was shot dead in his home and his children beaten.

[sandensea]

6. Sad but true.

For all of Obama's foreign policy accomplishments - especially compared to his delusional predecessor - one of his biggest mistakes was his policy of "turning back the Pink Tide" in Latin America.

The "Pink Tide" countries - despite mostly economic success during 2003-13 - got bad press in the WSJ, Economist, and other business rags because weren't following Bushonomics.

Something had to be done.

So one by one, these governments were undermined - mainly by way of collusion with (racist and often extreme) right-wing opposition media and parties; but sometimes by economic pressure such as vulture fund attacks (notably in Argentina) or outright blockades.

Where it succeeded, the hard-right swing has been disastrous - not just for them; but for U.S. foreign policy, which in the eyes of people around the world was seen as responsible.

But I would remind folks that this was mostly because it was hijacked for so many years by neo-cons. Basically sociopaths stuck in the McCarthy years.

Biden already seems to be moving U.S. policy away from that Cold War mindset - and into a more pragmatic approach based on basic realities: not least, that Bushonomics doesn't work.

Least of all, in Latin America!