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Drugs

Accountant in New York drug trafficking trial gives explosive testimony of alleged meetings with Honduran president

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," said the witness in the New York trial of Honduran businessman Geovanny Fuentes. The 45-year-old accountant described meetings between Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández and an alleged drug trafficker. (Leer en español)
16 Mar 2021 – 04:06 PM EDT
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A witness testified in court in New York on Tuesday that he witnessed two meetings between the president of Honduras and an alleged drug trafficker, Geovanny Fuentes, where they discussed drugs and money was handed over for Juan Orlando Hernández's political campaign.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing at that moment," said the witness, a Honduran accountant.

He told the court how he heard President Hernández tell Fuentes "there will be no need to worry" about law enforcement. He added that Hernandez told Fuentes "we are going to put the drugs up the gringos' own noses and they won't even notice."

What the protected witness says could help determine the fate of Fuentes, on trial on drug trafficking and weapons charges, as well as embattled President Hernandez. Another key witness in the trial testified last week that he paid bribes totaling $1.25 million to high-level politicians, including $250,000 for Hernandez.


Prosecutors accuse Hernández, who is an unindicted coconspirator, of receiving $25,000 in bribes from Fuentes during two meetings in 2013, when he was running for his first term. An accountant, identified as 'Jose Sanchez' by prosecutors, allegedly witnessed the meetings and exchanged the cash in local currency for Hernandez.

The 45-year-old accountant stated that he fled Honduras in 2015 fearing for his life. "I fled my country (...) because I was an eyewitness in two meetings between the defendant and President Juan Orlando Hernández," where they discussed protecting drug shipments, he told the court.

Hernandez has strongly denied the accusations, saying drug traffickers have found a "magic key" to reduce their own sentences by telling lies to prosecutors. His brother, former legislator Juan Antonio 'Tony' Hernandez was convicted of drug trafficking in October 2019 and is scheduled to be sentenced later this month, after a long delay caused by the pandemic.


The protected witness, however, is not a drug trafficker nor does he appear to be involved in any illicit activity. If his testimony is convincing, it could aid a conviction of Fuentes and bolster the case against Hernandez, who has been named in three other drug trafficking cases.

The meetings in question allegedly took place at a rice factory owned by businessman Fuad Jarufe. The accountant said he worked for the factory for 15 years and met regularly with Fuentes between 2003 and 2014.

Cocaine-lab

On two occasions Jarufe asked the accountant to take money to the property where a cocaine laboratory was located. There he saw men armed with AK-47 rifles, the accountant told the court.

Jarufe was a prominent political donor, receiving visits from a cast of politicians, including former President Manuel 'Mel' Zelaya and Hernandez, who allegedly landed his helicopter on a vacant lot adjacent to the factory.

The accountant testified in detail about Hernandez's visits during the 2013 election campaign. In the meetings Hernández allegedly discussed politics and boasted of plans to embezzle public funds, including from the national health system, which later turned into a major politicial scandal.


"We are stealing better than in Callejas' time," Hernandez allegedly said, referring to former President Rafael Callejas, considered by many to be one of the most corrupt Honduran presidents. The accountant said he was sitting barely ten feet away from Hernandez at the time.

Fuentes allegedly took $15,000 in cash out of a black briefcase and handed it to Hernández, who in turn gave it to the accountant to exchange into lempiras, the local currency. Fuentes allegedly said the money was "to help you with the campaign."

He described a second meeting where Fuentes gave Hernandez another $10,000 in cash.

In return for ther cash Hernandez allegedly agreed to loan out the Honduran armed forces for the security of Fuentes' drug shipments and told him to take orders from his brother, Tony Hernandez, who he claimed controlled drug trafficking in the country.

The accountant testified that Hernández visited the rice company by helicopter several times in 2013 to receive monthly payments for his campaign of 250,000 lempiras (about $10,000) from Jarufe. Hernandez won his first term as president in November 2013 and took office in January 2014.

Under cross-examination the defense attempted to show that the payments Hernandez received from Fuentes and Jarufe were all legitimate campaign donations. In the defense's opening statement, attorney Eylan Schulman said Jarufe was a "business mentor" for Fuentes who introduced him to Hernandez and other politicians. Prosecutors, meanwhile, say Jarufe laundered money for Fuentes.

Jarufe's whereabouts are unknown and he is not expected to testify at trial.

According to prosecutors, Hernandez was also interested in gaining access to the cocaine lab because of "its proximity to an important commercial port," Puerto Cortes, the largest port in Central America.

When police raided a cocaine lab allegedly operated by Fuentes and his associate, Melvin Sandres, alias 'Metro,' investigators discovered that the property belonged to Jarufe. Fuentes told the DEA in a post-arrest interview that there was a coffee farm on the land.

Fuentes was never prosecuted over the discovery of the lab.

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