Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez’s name has kept popping up in the New York trial of an alleged drug trafficker. One of the candidates running to replace him in yesterday’s primary elections has been convicted in the same court of laundering money for the same cartel.
Whoever wins Honduras’ presidency would face a US administration under US President Joe Biden that has already signaled a shift in priorities that would consider issues beyond just immigration in its relationship with the Central American nation.
Yani Rosenthal, fresh off serving a three-year sentence in the US, was running for the nomination of the Liberal Party, his third time as a candidate.
He was sentenced in 2017 and agreed to give up US$3 million after pleading guilty to laundering money for the Cachiros cartel. His father was once Honduras’ vice president and the family ran a banking empire.
Another big name in the field was Xiomara Castro, wife of former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, who was making her second bid to be the Liberty and Refoundation Party’s (Libre) presidential candidate.
Zelaya’s name also came up last week in the trial of accused Honduran drug trafficker Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez.
The former leader of the Cachiros cartel, Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, on Thursday testified that in addition to bribing Hernandez while he was president of the Honduran Congress, he also bribed Zelaya in 2006 when he assumed the presidency.
On Thursday, Zelaya offered on television to travel to New York with Hernandez to “clear up” the accusations, saying: “And we’ll see who comes back.”
Former Honduran president Porfirio Lobo, whose son was sentenced to 24 years in prison for drug trafficking in 2017 in New York, has also been accused in other trials of using drug trafficking proceeds to fund political campaigns.
Political analyst and three-time former presidential candidate Olban Valladares said the elections are an opportunity for Hondurans to begin to free themselves of failed leaders.
Yesterday’s elections included presidential primaries for the Libre, and the Liberal and National parties, three of the 14 registered parties.
However, they were also to choose the candidates who would compete for the 128 seats of the Honduran National Congress in November, as well as 298 local governments and other positions.
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