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Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez listens to then US Marine General John Kelly in 2014 as the US DEA was investigating the leader for ‘drug trafficking’. Photo: AP

President of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez and security chief were investigated by US for drug-trafficking

  • The leader and eight others were targets of a 2012 DEA probe into ‘large-scale drug-trafficking and money laundering activities’ relating to cocaine
  • Hernandez is a key US ally and Trump recognised his victory in a 2017 vote despite election monitors saying the poll was flawed
Honduras

The US Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the president of Honduras for drug-trafficking according to court documents, potentially weakening his grip on power and spooking markets.

Hernandez and eight others were the targets of a DEA probe that began in 2013 into “large-scale drug-trafficking and money laundering activities relating to the importation of cocaine into the United States”, according to documents filed by prosecutors with the US District Court Southern District of New York.

The document, filed Tuesday, sought a court order to force tech companies including Apple, Google and Microsoft, to turn over email information from eight targets of the investigation, including President Juan Orlando Hernandez and Security Minister Julian Pacheco.

Prosecutors sought non-content information, such as to/from headers, according to the document. The document was filed as part of a case against Hernandez’s brother, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernandez, who US authorities arrested in Miami in November. He is awaiting trial.

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Hernandez’s office did not reply to emails and phone messages seeking comment. The DEA said it does not confirm or deny whether investigations are ongoing.

Hernandez is a key US ally in the region, and the administration of President Donald Trump recognised his victory in a 2017 vote that election monitors said was flawed.

Hernandez’s pro-business policies have made him popular with foreign investors, and the nation’s assets will probably sell off if it looks as though he could lose his grip on power, said Risa Grais-Targow, an analyst at Eurasia Group.

“This government has generally been very market friendly,” Grais-Targow said. “I would think that the Trump administration is going to be inclined to still support him, especially considering the uncertainty around what the alternative would be.”

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Honduras was already a “tinderbox”, with frequent street protests and calls for a general strike, said Eric L. Olson, Director of Policy for the Seattle International Foundation, a charity that funds development projects in Central America.

“It’s going to add fuel to the fire of polarisation, anger, frustration that is happening now in Honduras,” Olson said in a phone interview.

Trump said in March that he would cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador over their failure to curb migration to the US

House Democrats have opposed the cuts and introduced legislation to restore the funding. Honduras has been one of the main sources of so-called “caravans” of migrants heading north through Mexico toward the US border.

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