Honduras leader warns drug cooperation with US endangered

TEGUCIGALPÁ, Honduras (AP) — Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández warned Wednesday that antinarcotics cooperation with United States could “collapse” if U.S. authorities believe “false testimony” in U.S. courts accusing him of cooperating with traffickers.

Hernández spoke before Central American country's legislature a day after several Democratic U.S. senators backed a bill calling on President Joe Biden to impose sanctions on Hernández and “determine wher he is a specially designated narcotics trafficker.”

Hernández has repeatedly denied testimony by witnesses in U.S. drug prosecutions — one of which convicted his bror — accusing him of protecting and taking bribes from traffickers. He has not been charged, however.

On Wednesday, he again asserted that traffickers, particularly a group known as “Los Cachiros,” were seeking vengeance against him for allowing m to be extrited to U.S.

“Los Cachiros have been repeatedly lying in most obvious way,” he told Honduran Congress.

He suggested that traffickers were trying to manipulate U.S. authorities into helping m take vengeance on Honduran officials pursuing m.

“It would mean, sooner or later, that systems of effective cooperation that I helped build, that have been recognized and praised repeatedly by Washington, inevitably would collapse — and not only in Honduras, but in several countries of Americas,” he said.

His appearance before Congress came as he presented proposals to toughen laws against gangs.

A day earlier, Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon introduced a bill that would seek to isolate Hernández, who in recent years has leaned heavily on support within U.S. government when facing domestic opposition and allegations of connections to drug traffickers by U.S. prosecutors.

“ United States cannot remain silent in face of deeply alarming corruption and human rights abuses being committed at highest levels of Honduran government,” Merkley said in a statement. “A failure to hold Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, national officials, and members of police and military accountable for se crimes will fuel widespre poverty and violence and force more families to flee ir communities in search of safety.”

Merkley’s bill was backed by Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Richard Durbin of Illinois and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts among ors.

bill calls for a suspension of security aid and also seeks to prohibit export of items such as tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets that Honduran security forces have deployed in recent years against protesters. U.S. government would actively oppose loans to Honduras’ security forces from multilateral development banks.

It also calls on Honduran government to talk to United Nations about establishing an anti-corruption mission in style of one that h success in Guatemala. Under Hernández, a similar mission backed by Organization of American States was not renewed after it began to implicate a number of federal lawmakers in corruption scandals.

Earlier this month, U.S. prosecutors filed documents in an upcoming trial suggesting president himself was under investigation. One of his numerous brors, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, was convicted in New York of a drug conspiracy in 2019.

Under ministration of President Donald Trump, immigration overshowed everything else in relationship. Biden has spoken about development support for so-called Norrn Triangle countries to dress root causes of migration, but new Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has also included “corruption and lack of respect for human rights” as causes of migration, according to a State Department summary of a call with his Honduran counterpart.

Image: AP