Page 10 - DVG

A2 UP FRONT
Friday 31 May 2019

Honduras president, others targets of DEA investigation

Continued from Front rested in 2018 in Miami and
accused of scheming for
Hilda Hernández, who years to bring tons of co-
helped manage the fi- caine into the country. His
nances of the president’s trial is expected to start in
political party and his presi- September.
dential campaign, died in A spokesman for the South-
a December 2015 helicop- ern District of New York said
ter crash. The request also on Thursday the court’s re-
named four members of sponse to the application
the wealthy and politically- for email header informa-
connected Rosenthal fam- tion is not public informa-
ily. tion. He declined to com-
Yani Rosenthal, a former ment further.
national lawmaker and The document filed Tues-
presidential candidate, day raises the possibil-
pleaded guilty in U.S. feder- ity that the DEA has email
al court in 2017 for money data for Honduras’ presi-
laundering for the Cachiros dent and members of his
drug trafficking organiza- inner circle dating to 2015.
tion. Messages left for Díaz, who A man throws a bin at a torched police vehicle during a protest against the government of
The new court filing is part of is Hernández’s de facto Honduras’ President Juan Orlando Hernandez, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Thursday, May 30, 2019.
the pre-trial motions in the spokesman, were not im- Associated Press
case of Hernandez’s broth- mediately returned. Pa- government has previously Command and later be- say would lead to massive
er Juan Antonio “Tony” checo could not be imme- denied allegations against came President Donald public sector layoffs. On
Hernández, who was ar- diately reached, but the him. Trump’s chief of staff. Kelly Thursday, a massive march
Pacheco has been dogged advocated for continued led to clashes with police
by allegations of his links U.S. support of Hernández’s who fired tear gas against
to drug traffickers since at government, noting their some protesters’ rocks.
least 2017 when a leader of contributions to the war on Retired history professor
Honduras’ Cachiros cartel drugs and progress in com- Dana Frank, whose recent
testified in another case in batting corruption. book “The Long Honduran
New York about his ties to When Hernández’s already Night: Resistance, Terror,
drug traffickers. controversial re-election and the United States in the
Pacheco had served under was marred by irregularities Aftermath of the Coup”
Hernández’s predecessor, in late 2017, the U.S. gov- details the country’s recent
Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo Sosa, ernment congratulated political turmoil said the
FROM 6-7PM as the government’s chief him while the opposition documents confirm the U.S.
of investigation and intel- was still contesting the vote government has known
ligence. Lobo’s son Fabio count. about drug trafficking ac-
was sentenced to 24 years With Hondurans filling the tivities linked to Hernández
in a U.S. prison in 2017 for ranks of several large mi- for years.
drug trafficking. grant caravans during the “Why have U.S. officials —
On Thursday, a DEA spokes- past year, the U.S. has con- from the State Department
woman referred questions tinued to support Hernán- to the White House to the
asked by The Associated dez while pressuring his Southern Command —
Press to the Southern Dis- government to stem the continued for years now to
trict of New York. immigration flow. celebrate, and pour secu-
The U.S. government has Many Honduran migrants rity funding into, a govern-
been a staunch supporter encountered making the ment whose very topmost
of Hernández’s govern- journey to the U.S. bor- officials and security figures
ment, pouring millions of der during the past year it has known were drug traf-
dollars into security coop- have referenced govern- fickers?” Frank said. “This
eration because Honduras ment corruption among evidence underscores the
is a key transshipment point their reasons for leav- vast hypocrisy of U.S. poli-
for cocaine headed to the ing. Thousands of doctors cy, which backs a known
U.S. from South America. and teachers have been drug trafficker and his po-
Hernández had especially marching through the lice and military cronies,
curried favor with Gen. streets of Honduras’ capi- while claiming to do so in
John Kelly who had led tal for three weeks against the name of fighting crime
the U.S. military’s Southern presidential decrees they and drugs.”q