MANHATTAN (CN) — Facing up to life in prison on drug conspiracy and weapons charges, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández took the witness stand in his own defense on Tuesday, claiming he had combatted the drug trafficking organizations he’s accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes from while in office.
Speaking through a Spanish language interpreter, he repeatedly answered he "never" met with the leaders of the Cachiros, Valle Valles, and Sinaola cartels, rebutting trial testimony from a half dozen cooperating witnesses he said they had paid millions of dollars in bribes to Hernández for political favors that protected and aided their cocaine trafficking organizations.
Asked by his attorney Raymond Colon whether his presidential campaign received money from drug traffickers, Hernández replied: “As far as I know, no, sir.”
During the defense’s direct questioning on Tuesday afternoon, Hernández recalled his legislative agenda as president from 2014 through 2022, and as congressman from 2010 to 2014, framing himself as a reformer who signed laws cracking down on organized crime, terrorism, and drug trafficking.
Hernández said he established three new police forces within the Honduran government once he was president, and coordinated internationally with the U.S. Southern Command joint command force which trained the Honduran Tigres special forces.
“My policy was that any request of extradition made by the United States was to be granted,” he testified.
Hernández said he was responsible for 24 extraditions while president, with three more still pending.
Asked by Colon if he had promised any of the cartels that he would protect them during his presidency and campaign, Hernández replied: “On the contrary, the promise was we were going to terminate them.”
He boasted on the witness stand about sponsoring a change in Honduran legislation that resulted in the seizure of $600 million worth of property from the Cachiros drug trafficking cartel. "It was the largest operation ever in Central America," he testified.
Asked if he had ever met with the leaders of Cachiros cartel, Hernández replied: “Never.”
Hernández’s declarations clash with the testimony of Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, former leader of the Cachiros cartel, who testified last week he paid cash bribes to Hernández with the proceeds of drug trafficking and received protections for his operation. The protection included armed military personnel who escorted cattle trucks loaded with cocaine headed north from South America to the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico; protection from capture by Honduran law enforcement and extradition to the United States on criminal charges; and government highway contracts for a road construction company used for laundering the cartel’s drug money.
“I would bribe them, sir, with money,” he said during the prosecution’s direct questioning. “From drug trafficking, sir."
On cross-examination Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors pressed Hernández about a photograph that appeared to show him at the World Cup in 2010 in matching light blue Honduran team uniforms with Miguel Arnulfo Valle Valle, one of the two brothers who headed the Valle Valle cartel, wrapping his arm around Hernández.
“Sir, I don’t know Mr. Arnulfo Valle,” he responded, casting doubt on the veracity of the photo, suggesting there had been some public debate about whether that photo was a “montage”.
Hernández’s denial of having ever met Valle stunned Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle A. Wirshba, who reminded the former president that Valle had attempted to assassinate him and that he just said during direct testimony that he extradited the cartel leader to face criminal charges in the United States.
“That doesn’t make him an acquaintance of mine,” the defendant replied.
Facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 40 years and up to life in prison on drug conspiracy and weapons charges, Hernández, 55, is the first head of state to stand trial in the United States since former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.
The trial is being presided over by U.S District Judge Kevin Castel. The George W. Bush appointee also oversaw the case against Hernández’s brother, who was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years and ordered to forfeit $138 million.
When trial kicked off last month, Hernández’s defense attorney Renato Stabile told jurors the key evidence in the government’s case was going to be comprised of testimony from vengeful convicted murderers and drug traffickers who are only testifying to reduce their own prison sentences.
Hernández’s testimony is expected to continue Wednesday before the trial heads to closing arguments.
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