Photo: EPA / Peter Foley / EFE
The Honduran government hired the influential law firm Arnold & Porter before the trial that ended this week in New York with the sentenced to life imprisonment for drug trafficking of Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, brother of the president of that country, Juan Orlando Hernández, whom the judge implicated in the cause.
According to an investigation by the newspaper The Washington Post and certain Department of Justice documents, the firm attempted to influence prosecutors in the case to avoid ruling against the defendant.
The Arnold & Porter law firm has as partner John B. Bellinger III, former legal advisor of the Department of State (DOJ) in the presidency of George W. Bush and also the current US Attorney General worked there. .US., Merrick Garland.
According to Prosecutors in the case, the lawyers hired by Honduras acted as lobbyists to warn them of “collateral consequences” due to the process in relations with Honduras in relation to US military bases in the country, as well as “unrelated immigration issues.”
Arnold & Porter, on behalf of the Honduran government, tried to discredit the value of some witnesses and lobbied with other government departments of Donald Trump after maintaining contacts with the National Security Council, according to the legal documents derived from the process against Tony Hernández.
Those contacts occurred in the fall of 2020, shortly after Arnold & Porter registered its relationship with Tegucigalpa in the database of foreign agents (FARA ) of the DOJ.
The registration document in this database, co n date 23 September 2019, includes a contract dated August of that year by $ 536, 000 dollars plus additional expenses signed with Arnold & Porter by the then Honduran Minister of Finance, Rocío Tábora, according to what was verified EFE.
The object of the contractual relationship, according to the documents delivered to FARA in September 2019, is “to provide legal services in connection with a market transaction international capital ”, as well as“ additional matters mutually agreed upon ”,“ due diligence ”work or that affect bilateral relations.
That same law firm has representation and lobbying relationships also with Argentina, South Korea, Israel and the team of the Venezuelan president in charge Juan Guaidó , according to reports from the first semester of 2020.
The brother of the current president of Honduras was sentenced to life imprisonment on 30 of March. Protesters at the gates of the New York court requested the “extradition of the drug president” from that country.
One week before, Tuesday 23, a jury also in New York had found Honduran Geovanny guilty of drug trafficking Fuentes Ramírez, who according to US prosecutors was a partner of the current president of that country in the trafficking of tons of cocaine to the United States. . Both trials were brought by the same judge, Kevin Castel.
Prosecutors for the southern district of New York affirmed in the process against Fuentes that all the presidents of Honduras since 2006 have received bribes from drug traffickers in exchange for protection and a promise not to be extradited. They detailed that Hernández, current president, went even further and associated with the defendant Fuentes.
The president of Honduras has denied all the accusations. It says that the former head of the “Los Cachiros” cartel, Leonel Rivera, who collaborated in the trial with the prosecution, has lied to reduce his prison sentence and revenge on him for his fight against drug trafficking.
“For the whole family, the news that It is expected New York will be painful. And what else can be said about a trial in which the testimony of the main “cooperator” of the prosecutors is now exposed by the secret recordings of DEA’s own as a lie? ”, wrote the president on his Twitter account, in English and Spanish, hours before his brother’s sentence was announced.
Fabio Lobo, son of former Honduran president Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo (2010 – 2010), was sentenced in 2017 in New York to 24 years in prison for the trafficking of 1.4 tons of cocaine to the US, he recalled France 24.
For the whole family, the news expected from New York will be painful. And what else can be said of a trial in which the testimony of the prosecutors’ chief “cooperator” is now exposed by the DEA’s own secret recordings as a lie?
– Juan Orlando H. (@JuanOrlandoH) March 30, 2021
Honduras hired elite DC law firm in failed lobbying effort to derail “state-sponsored drug trafficking probe” of president’s brother https://t.co/F5XH7lJgLe
– The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 1, 2021