President of Honduras Rejects that the State of Honduras Sponsors Drug Trafficking

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Oct. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, categorically rejected the accusations of U.S. prosecutors that Honduras is a narco-state, highlighting the achievements in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime and reiterating his commitment to continue, with a firm hand, the battle against these two scourges.

"On behalf of the Honduran people, I strongly reject the unfair and false accusations that Honduras is a state that sponsors drug trafficking or is a narco-state. On the contrary, Honduras has been the victim of drug trafficking that comes from the south and that is consumed in the north", he said in reference to the accusations made in the initial hearing of the trial of Juan Antonio Hernández, describing Honduras as a sophisticated state-sponsoring organization that has distributed cocaine for years.

Hernández gave as a key example one of the most important results of the frontal fight against drug trafficking by ensuring that Honduras "went from being the bridge of 80 percent of the drugs that arrived in the United States in 2011, to becoming the country in Central America where less drugs travel: only 3 percent," which, he says, has been confirmed by Honduran authorities and U.S. agencies.

On the other hand, Hernandez recalled his public statement when he declared that "no one is above the law." To my relatives, friends, political party members and close friends, I said: "Don't come and ask me for favors outside the law; everyone is responsible for their actions."

On his brother's trial in a New York court, Hernández said: "We trust that justice will prevail."

In a statement, the Government of Honduras, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, expressed its concern to the U.S. Department of State due to the negative effect that the accusations against the State of Honduras could have on the achieved progress in terms of security, macroeconomics and other initiatives for the economic development of the country.

Since 2010, when he was president of the National Congress, Hernández led a transnational anti-crime strategy that allowed the approval of more than 20 laws and instruments, including extradition.

Since the time the strategy was implemented in 2014, there have been 24 extradition proceedings, resulting in the voluntary delivery of another dozen drug traffickers, thus breaking up the six most powerful drug trafficking cartels operating in Honduras.

SOURCE President Juan Orlando Hernández