SDNY COURTHOUSE, Jan 19 – After Honduras' president's brother was convicted of drug trafficking in a trial that showed the president receiving $1 million from El Chapo, now on January 19 this from Washington DC:
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot L. Engel (D-NY) as well as Lead Republican Michael McCaul (R-TX) along with Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security and Trade Chairman Albio Sires (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Francis Rooney (R-FL), issued the following statement condemning Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández’s decision not to extend the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH):
“With the stroke of a pen, President Juan Orlando Hernández had the opportunity to extend MACCIH – the mechanism put in place to strengthen Honduras’s capacity to address systemic corruption. Unfortunately, President Hernández chose not to exercise his authority and allowed MACCIH to expire. We strongly condemn this decision. “Corruption in Honduras has had a corrosive effect on the country and remains a key driver of migration to the United States. The Honduran people are the ones who will suffer the most from this ill-advised decision. We stand with them and support their right to live in a country whose government respects the rule of law and holds corrupt actors accountable. We remain committed to the fight against corruption in Honduras and will continue to support civil society-led efforts.”
In July, the four House leaders sent a letter to President Hernández urging a clean extension of MACCIH, and they reiterated this message in December.
Meanwhile UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, himself corrupt, praised JOH in September 2019 and has refused each and every question from banned Inner City Press about it, and his previous support of JOH, since. It is Guterres who should be in jail.
One of El Chapo's many bribees, former Mexican minister Genaro Garcia Luna, was arraigned and detained on January 3 in Brooklyn in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Inner City Press, which covered the SDNY trial of Tony Hernandez, the brother of Honduras' president Juan Orlando Hernandez whose campaign was shown to be funded by El Chapo, was in Brooklyn for this arraignment and files this report. (Podcast here, Periscopes I, II & III).
Garcia Luna was brought in from the holding cell, wearing a grey sweatshirt and waving to a handful of supports in the Arraignments Courtroom gallery. He is retaining his own counsel, but there were not able to be present on January 3. Cesar de Castro, whose work Inner City Press has covered in the SDNY, appeared for arraignment only. Judge Peggy Kuo said that if Garcia Luna wants a publicly-funded lawyer going forward, he will have to file a financial affidavit.
That seems unlikely. Assistant US Attorney Erin Reid said Garcia Luna has amassed riches which make him a flight risk. No bond package was presented, so Garcia Luna was detained on consent. His next appearance is on January 21 at 9:45 am before Judge Brian Cogan. Inner City Press will remain on this case - and on that of JOH and UN Antonio Guterres, who has hidden his spending including of El Chapo funds, as well as links to SDNY convicted UN briber CEFC China Energy. Guterres bans and censors the Press to conceal his links: but for immunity, a crime. Or crimes.
That seems unlikely. Assistant US Attorney Erin Reid said Garcia Luna has amassed riches which make him a flight risk. No bond package was presented, so Garcia Luna was detained on consent. His next appearance is on January 21 at 9:45 am before Judge Brian Cogan. Inner City Press will remain on this case - and on that of JOH and UN Antonio Guterres, who has hidden his spending including of El Chapo funds, as well as links to SDNY convicted UN briber CEFC China Energy. Guterres bans and censors the Press to conceal his links: but for immunity, a crime. Or crimes.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has refused to answer Inner City Press' questions about his meeting(s) with JOH, and about a four person panel he sent to the country to support JOH.
Inner City Press even before the verdict as the UN Spokespeople Stephane Dujarric and Melissa Fleming in writing, "October 18-1: On Honduras on which you have refused to answer or respond to Inner City Press' as it covers in SDNY the US v Tony Hernandez trial which continues jury deliberations today and has asked you why SG Guterres did not even bring up corruption and drug trafficking when he met president Juan Orlando Hernandez, 1) please immediately describe activities of the UN system and resident coordinator / representative on JOH's current terms and 2) what now are Guterres' belated comments and actions if any on that last night JOH's National Party majority in the Honduran parliament passed a law making itslef immune, and that Honduran police dispersed hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas on Wednesday in Tegucigalpa who demanded the resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernandez, suspected by the American courts of collaborating with the drug traffickers?"
No answer all all.
The trial began with a bang on October 2 with the charge that already life imprisoned El Chapo Guzman gave the defendant $1 million for this brother, the president. On October 7, sworn witness Alex Ardon described the meeting, with both El Chapo and Tony Hernandez present and the cash in plastic bags, see thread and see below.
The trial is before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge P. Kevin Castel and Inner City Press is live tweeting it. See also Patreon here
And here the post arrest statement as so far put in to the jury, as uploaded to YouTube by Inner City Press, here. The case is US v. Diaz Morales, 15-cr-00379 (Castel).
Inner City Press will continue to cover this and other SDNY and 2nd Circuit cases - watch this site, and there is more on Patreon, here.
