“El Primo” took care and “El Tigre” covered by order of JOH: US Attorney’s Office

Former Honduran National Police Chief Juan Carlos Bonilla Valladares and Deputy Commissioner Mauricio Hernández Pineda (who has already pleaded guilty), along with former President Juan Orlando Hernández, form a criminal structure that traffics drugs from Honduras.

That’s how prosecutors in New York’s Southern District Court will look at the trial against former Honduran president and “El Tigre” Bonilla on Monday, February 12.

With the statements of key witnesses, the prosecution will trace the moment the accused started working with drug traffickers who transported drugs by land and air.

With different roles, the indictment shows how former President Juan Orlando Hernández, through his brother Juan Antonio Hernández (with a life sentence), gave orders for the free passage of cocaine shipments guarded by ex-police officer Mauricio Hernández Pineda. In the prosecutor’s office, according to the statements of drug traffickers, Hernandez has a cousin.

These statements are based on the testimony of drug traffickers who negotiated with the prosecutor’s office in exchange for providing information on how the structure was operated to ship cocaine from Honduras, which brought them multimillion profits.

The judicial panorama does not change for the former president or the former director of the National Police after Mauricio Hernández Pineda pleaded guilty to charges related to drug trafficking last Friday, February 2, before the trial.

With a guilty plea, the facts will not change, so the New York prosecutor’s office will continue to maintain the roles that each had and that they fulfilled with the former president’s permission.

A serious indictment by the New York prosecutor’s office suggests that the former Honduran president would not have come to power nor would he have “successfully benefited from large profits from drug trafficking if it were not for his extensive network of corrupt associates.”

Court documents indicate that these associates, including Bonilla Valladares, “also used their positions to traffic cocaine into the United States and violently protect other politically connected drug traffickers, for their own personal gain.

“Bonilla Valladares further betrayed the Honduran people by using his police badge to cover up his crimes.”

These charges. Juan Carlos “Tigre” Bonilla Valladares is charged with conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States and weapons offenses including the use and possession of machine guns and destructive devices. During the trial, the Prosecutor’s Office intends to demonstrate that between approximately 2003 and 2020, several drug trafficking organizations in Honduras and elsewhere worked together and with the support of certain prominent public and private figures.

The documents state that these individuals would be Honduran politicians and law enforcement officials, who would receive multi-ton shipments of cocaine sent to Honduras by air and sea from Colombia and Venezuela and transport the drugs west to Honduras. border with Guatemala and eventually the USA.

Bonilla Valladares was a member of the National Police between 1998 and 2016. During his police career he held high positions, including regional police chief with authority over locations in western Honduras that are strategically important to drug traffickers, and he was chief. National Police of Honduras between 2012 and 2013.

Among the evidence that the prosecutor’s office will present are the testimonies of drug traffickers who have negotiated, pleaded guilty or pleaded guilty, in addition to documents and others that will be presented during the trial, which begins on February 12.

One of the testimonies incriminating former president Juan Orlando Hernandez is that of Alexander Arden of the AA Cartel, who recalls the moment he and Juan Antonio Hernandez began to profit from drug trafficking in collusion with senior police chiefs. As Juan Carlos Bonilla and Mauricio Hernandez Pineda.

Alexander Ardon, known as Chande or AAA, was the mayor of El Paraíso, Copán, where drug shipments have passed freely for years, as it is a border area with Guatemala.

In his extensive statement given during Tony Hernandez’s trial in October 2019, Alexander Ardon claimed that he and Juan Orlando Hernandez had been in a relationship since 2008 and helped him traffic about 30 to 40 tons of cocaine from 2010 to 2019.

He recalled how in a meeting with Juan Antonio Hernandez Joaquin Loera, alias Chapo Guzman, he gave him a million dollars for the campaign of Juan Orlando Hernandez in El Paraiso Copan, where Melvin Pinto, Hugo Arden were also present; Mario Calix, cousin, Otto Salguero and Ronal Salguero.