With conviction of president's brother, protest in Honduras reaches boiling point

October 24, 2019 1:13 PM CDT BY EMILE SCHEPERS



A demonstrators bangs on a pot near burning barricades, during a protest demanding the resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernandez, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, late Friday, Oct. 18, 2019. The protests come after Tony Hernandez, the brother of President Juan Orlando Hernandez, was convicted in a massive drug conspiracy, that prosecutors of the New York federal court say was protected by the Central American country's government. | Elmer Martinez / AP


Since the re-election of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández of the right-wing National Party in 2017, mass protests have been ongoing in the streets of Honduran cities. That election was considered fraudulent by many, but now a court decision in the United States has added to the anger against Hernández, a close ally of the Trump administration.

On Oct. 18, a U.S. federal court in New York found the president’s brother, Tony Hernández, guilty of major drug trafficking charges. And although Juan Orlando Hernández had previously stated that his brother alone was responsible for whatever he had done, the evidence presented against Tony also implicates Juan Orlando and his predecessor, former Honduran President Porfirio Lobo.

A major witness in the Trial, gangster Devis Rivera Madriaga, testified that he had bribed both Presidents Hernández and Lobo to allow the Cachiros drug cartel a free hand to run drugs through Honduras on their way to sale in the United States. Furthermore, evidence was given that President Hernández’s first election campaign, in 2013, had received support in the form of drug money.

The rise of Lobo and the Hernández brothers to power in Honduras was the result of the 2009 military coup d’etat which overthrew left-leaning President Manuel Zelaya. At that time, the United States had maneuvered to prevent Zelaya from returning to power, and this resulted in the election of Lobo in November 2009, in circumstances in which the security forces were repressing the opposition, part of which boycotted the vote.

More:
https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/with-conviction-of-presidents-brother-protest-in-honduras-reaches-boiling-point/