In Honduras Drug Trial DOJ Says President JOH Took $25000 and Vowed Coke in Gringos Nose

The US is going strong against Juan Orlando Hernandez. Where is this going?

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN

SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 9 –The Honduras narco-trafficking trial of US v. Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez began on the morning of March 9.  Inner City Press was there.

 Geovanny Fuentes was sitting at the defense table, with two U.S. Marshals citing six feet behind him. The prosecutors were the table in front, closest to the judge.

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge P. Kevin Castel said the open argument would take 20 minutes. Inner City Press live tweeted the first opening argument here:

 Judge Castel: "Juror Number Five is excused. She is going to see her doctor."

Note: in the other trial Inner City Press is covering, about Wirecard, 1 of the jurors tested positive for COVID last week. Jurors are being tested on the way in, and that trial is continuing.

 Judge Castel: Defendant is charged with cocaine import, & machine guns

 Judge Castel is telling the jurors the rules: Don't talk about the trial, even at home, until the entire trial is over.

 Judge Castel: If you send a note to me, don't tell the other jurors what is about - if you do, it may be that the whole jury needs to be dismissed. And no social media posts about the trial. 

 Judge Castel: How long does the prosecution want for an opening statement? Twenty minutes. Defense too. It begins. Assistant US Attorney: This case is about a violent drug trafficker. He ran a cocaine lab in the mountains of Honduras. He guarded the labs with gun

 AUSA: He needed trucks, boats and airplanes to move the cocaine. He bought those he could, and killed those he could not. He was connected with the military and political power in Honduras: mayors, congressmen, "even the current president of Honduras" AUSA: Getting the drugs here requires power, big people, at the highest level of the drug trade. The evidence will show that he started selling kilos in Miami. Each kilos has 8000 doses. Small shipments. Then he moved up to cocaine lab in Honduras

 AUSA: He paid armed men to guard his lab. It was raided and he was never prosecuted for it. The officer who participated in that raid, he was kidnapped, he was tortured and he was murdered because he tried to get in defendant's way.

 AUSA: But the defendant was not satisfied. He sought out and partnered with largest drug organization in Honduras. He bragged about his lab, his close relations with those in power, and his armed guards. He was successful. Thousands of kilos into the US

 AUSA: He partnered directly with a candidate, now the president of Honduras. You'll learn about secret meetings the defendant had with the president in 2013 and 2014, to send as much cocaine as possible to the US. He gave the president $25,000 & access to his lab

 AUSA: In exchange, the President made the defendant bullet proof, shielded him from prosecution with the held of the Attorney General. The defendant would team up with the president's brother, then a major drug dealer. [Tony Hernandez is now in the jail next door]

AUSA: The defendant was a key part of "the Honduran narco-state... He worked with the now president.... He helped the president traffic cocaine." [

The US is going strong against Juan Orlando Hernandez. Where is this going?]

  AUSA: The defendant was untouchable in Honduras, but he was not in the US. He was arrested in 2020 in the airport in Miami. In his post arrest interview, you'll hear how he got the land for his lab. Lionel Rivera will testify how he worked with the defendant.

AUSA: Rivera will describe defendant's involvement in torture in murder. Lionel Rivera has admitted to his role in 78 murders, and 15 attempted murders.  You'll hear from an accountant, Jose Sanchez. He worked for a business in Honduras used to launder drug money

AUSA: Jose Sanchez will tell you about the defendant's meetings with the president. The fear, he felt when he saw the defendant sitting with the president, that after they partnered, the president said they would "shove the drugs up the noses of the gringos."

AUSA: You'll learned what was on the defendant's phone when he was arrested: photos of guns. Stacks of cash. At the end, we'll speak again. Until then, please do 3 things: pay attention, follow instructions on the law, and use your common sense. He is guilty.

The case is US v. Diaz, 15-cr-379 (Castel).

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