Raymond Colon on the JOH trial: Expect surprises and more leads this week

A grueling week and a massive “catwalk” of witnesses, examples of drug addicts, who were previously untouchable and are now fighting to avoid life imprisonment, were witnessed last week and this “surprise” will not be much different. Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez’s defender, Raymond Colón, announced the previous Friday, for this week.

The words of the former president’s defender were “surprised and more lead” upon entering the court of the Southern District of New York, where Judge Kevin Castel and a jury of 12 professionals judge the former president’s innocence or guilt.

This Monday, the fifth day of the trial against the former president will take place in New York, where the questioning of the witness Miguel Reynoso, a former agent of the Anti-Drug Trafficking Directorate, who participated in the operation in which “Magdaleno Meza” was “arrested, will continue.”, whose original The name was Neri Orlando López Sanabria, and his wife Erica Bandy, in whose vehicle they found “narcobooks”, which they now present in the trial against the former president and before. of Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernandez.

The previous Friday, Renato Stabile was interrogating Reynoso, when Judge Kevin Castel, at 4:00 p.m., ordered the session closed to convene this Monday.

Stabile attacked the witness with a strategy to determine if the chain of custody was followed after the discovery of Magdaleno’s famous notebooks kept in the wrong compartment of one of the vehicles seized in the operation conducted on June 6, 2018. by elements of the Directorate of Fight Against Drug Trafficking (DLCN) and the Military Police.

Several names appeared in the narcobooks, as previously reported, but “Tony” and JOH. At that time, it was confirmed that the authorities did not maintain the chain of custody, as they seized not only the famous notebook, but also weapons and a large sum of money.

The defense wants to assert that JOH’s name was maliciously placed in the notebooks, but that, originally, they did not appear when they were seized from Lopez Sanabria. As will be recalled, Magdaleno Meza wanted a deal with the United States to testify about his alleged relationship with Hernandez, but was murdered in the maximum security prison “El Pozo”, where he was being held.

Later, his wife was also killed by an elite team who made sure to leave her for dead a day before she was granted temporary freedom.

Narcolibreta had no effect in Honduras, as Magdaleno Meza was murdered in state custody, while his wife was later released and met the same fate as her husband shortly afterwards. In the United States, the notebook is being used in the trial of the Hernandez brothers.

Shocking testimony

During the week, the former mayor of Copán, Amilcar Alexander “Chande” Ardon Soriano, was implicated in his testimony, linking the former president and his brother as part of a drug trafficking network with ties to the Sinaloa cartel and “Chapo” Guzmán. .

During his testimony, former mayor Juan linked Orlando to a network that conspired to bring cocaine into the United States, provide security and custody of shipments, secure the network, and bring drug trafficking to the state level.

Bribes to former presidents

Other evidence was that of “El Contador,” with the fictitious name of José Sánchez, who claimed to have bribed former presidents Juan Orlando Hernández, Porfirio Lobo Sousa, and Manuel Zelaya Rosales in the 2005 and 2009 election campaigns. The company is called Graneros de Honduras, owned by businessman Fuad Jarufe.

Continuous inquiry

This Monday will be the fifth day of the trial against former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez (2014-2022) in New York’s Southern District Court on drug-trafficking-related charges.

The so-called “trial of the century” in Honduras will resume on Monday, with the interrogation by the defense team of former Honduran president Miguel Reynoso, a former agent of the Directorate of Fight Against Drug Trafficking (DLCN), continuing. .

This former agent was involved in the seizure of several notebooks of the deceased Magdaleno Meza, in an operation conducted in 2018 in the Naco sector of the Department of Cortes.

The notebooks, known as “Narcolibretas,” contain records that suggest, according to the U.S. Prosecutor’s Office, that the former Honduran president was paid because he had the initials “JOH” and used them in the trial of his brother Juan Antonio “Tony.” was already done. Hernandez, who was found guilty by a jury.

Last week, the trial finally began, with the testimony of Jose Sánchez, aka “El Contador,” who testified that he worked for Fuad Jarroufe at the company “Ganaderos Nacionales” and observed how drug trafficker Giovanni Fuentes gave him a briefcase of money. . , in a $20 bill, to Hernández Alvarado, asking him to change the money into lampiras and use it for a political campaign.

Subsequently, Alexander Arden, the former mayor of El Paraíso in Copán, testified that he spent three days in court answering questions put to him by the New York Prosecutor’s Office as a defense.

Ardon revealed that he met the head of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán, on two occasions, in which “Tony” Hernández was present, where the first gave the second a million dollars, so that it could be used for his brother’s political work. campaign

He also confirmed that he was involved in the deaths of 56 people, as well as that he tortured others, earning $200 million for participating in drug trafficking activities.

It is expected that, this week, the New York prosecutor’s office will present more witnesses, as well as reveal calls intercepted by the Honduran authorities, one of them is one of the leaders of the Mar Salvatrucha, Alexander Mendoza, alias “L. Porkis” .

The former Honduran president faces three charges – drug trafficking conspiracy, trafficking and weapons possession – and if convicted, could face the same life sentence as his brother. (Agency/Editorial)