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On the photo: Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez in 2015.
(Getty Images, File)
A brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was accused Monday by federal prosecutors of conspiring to import tons of cocaine into the United States, to commit weapons offenses and to to have lied to federal agents.
Juan Antonio Hernandez Alvarado, aka Tony Hernandez, was arrested Friday in Miami and was scheduled to appear in federal court on Monday.
Federal prosecutors in New York described the suspect, a former Honduran congressman, as "a large-scale drug dealer" who had been working for more than a decade with his compatriots as well as Mexican-based traffickers in Colombia and other countries to receive, process and distribute cocaine through Honduras to the United States. Hernandez used cocaine labs in Honduras and Colombia, where some drug packages bore the initials "TH", according to investigators.
Prosecutors also said that Hernandez coordinated and sometimes provided security for drug shipments inside Honduras, even using members of the country's national police.
The drug-related corruption charges around Tony Hernandez have darkened his brother's government in a Central American country that is a major transit center for cocaine.
Honduras is also the homeland of thousands of migrants who recently traveled to the US border with Mexico to camp on the US border, claiming that they escape a poor economy and oppressive criminal gangs.
"Hernandez has been involved in all stages of trafficking throughout Honduras with several tons of cocaine shipments destined for the United States," US Attorney General Geoffrey Berman said in a statement. Raymond Donovan, who heads the special operations of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said Hernandez was accused of working with "some of the world's deadliest and most dangerous transnational criminal networks" to "flood US streets with deadly drugs."
The indictment also claimed that Hernandez paid bribes to reduce drug and money trafficking – sometimes paying law enforcement officials information to protect drug shipments. and soliciting bribes for himself and other high officials.
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Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, a convicted trafficker, testified last year in New York that Hernandez had asked him for a bribe in exchange for government contracts. Rivera was trying to get the Honduran government to pay its debts to a company that his cartel was using to launder money.
According to the indictment, Rivera reportedly paid Tony Hernandez $ 50,000 at their meeting in 2014.
In a statement after the testimony, Tony Hernandez denied any involvement in illegal activities and stated that he was "at the disposal of Honduran or international justice for any investigation".
He indicated that he had testified voluntarily with US investigators in Miami in 2016 and had testified before the Honduran Public Prosecutor last year.
"I strongly reiterate that I am ready to collaborate in any serious investigation," he said. "And as I have done before, I am ready to introduce myself again to US authorities if it is necessary, because the one who must not, is not afraid."
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After the arrest of his brother Friday, the president's administration reiterated an earlier statement that "no one is above the law and every person must have the right to defend himself legitimately and to be presumed innocent ".
The statement also stated that the president maintains that everyone is responsible for his actions and can not transfer responsibility to other people. The government said it will ensure that justice is done with "absolute openness and strict compliance with the law".
Associated Press contributed to this report.
