the map of narco financing and politicians
The trial demonstrated the links and financing of drug cartels to political parties in Honduras. “This is the beginning of a longer road.”
HAVANA TIMES – The guilty verdict against former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, known as JOH, exposed the links and financing of drug trafficking cartels to campaigns of several political parties in that country, which is part of the change in “the approach of the United States in the region,” says Honduran journalist Oscar Estrada.
The journalist, who covered the trial in New York, believes that after this case, the United States will continue to investigate the influence of drug trafficking on politics because, in his opinion, “what the US is doing is building us a map of financing and links of the cartels and mafias with local and national politics.”
“Since the case of Manuel Antonio Noriega in 1989, we had not seen a former president of the region tried by US courts, and like Noriega’s trial, JOH’s marks a change in US strategy and approach in the region,” says Estrada in an interview with the program Esta Noche.
JOH was found guilty of charges of “conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States” and for “using and carrying machine guns and destructive devices during the conspiracy.” According to US prosecutors, the president received millions of dollars from drug trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico, and other places in exchange for large quantities of cocaine passing through his country on its way to the USA.
28 more politicians involved
In the trial held in New York, the financing of drug trafficking gangs to political campaigns of several parties also came to light. At least 28 politicians, including candidates for deputies,
