Showing posts with label Honduras. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Honduras. Show all posts
Thursday, December 04, 2025
Trump’s Inexplicable Pardon
Tuesday, December 02, 2025
Honduran Ex-President Is Freed After Pardon, Lawyer Says
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The lawyer for Juan Orlando Hernández, a former president of Honduras who had been convicted in the United States of drug trafficking charges, said on Tuesday that his client had been released from a federal prison in West Virginia after receiving a full pardon from President Trump. Mr. Trump’s announcement of the pardon last week came as a shock to Hondurans and to U.S. officials who had built a major case against Mr. Hernández for flooding the United States with cocaine. » | NYT | Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Saturday, November 29, 2025
In Announcing Pardon of Drug Trafficker While Threatening Venezuela, Trump Displays Contradictions
THE NEW YORK TIMES: President Trump’s statements on social media less than 24 hours apart showed the dissonance in his campaign against drug trafficking.
President Trump and his top aides have said that drug cartels present one of the most pressing dangers to the United States, and have promised to eradicate them from the Western Hemisphere.
As part of that effort, Mr. Trump signaled on Saturday that he was ratcheting up his campaign against drug cartels, saying in a social media post that airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered “CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
Less than 24 hours earlier, Mr. Trump had announced on social media that he was granting a full pardon to Juan Orlando Hernández, a former president of Honduras who had been convicted in the United States of drug trafficking charges in what was seen as a major victory for authorities in a case against a former head of state. That pardon has not yet been officially granted.
The two posts displayed a remarkable dissonance in the president’s strategy, as he moved to escalate a military campaign against drug trafficking while ordering the release of a man prosecutors said had taken “cocaine-fueled bribes” from cartels and “protected their drugs with the full power and strength of the state — military, police and justice system.” In fact, prosecutors said that Mr. Hernández, for years, allowed bricks of cocaine from Venezuela to flow through Honduras en route to the United States.
Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, called the pardon “unconscionable” and said that Mr. Trump’s actions were more evidence of a “bogus narrative” around his strategy to counter illicit drugs.
“It completely undercuts the administration’s claim that they really care about narco-trafficking, and that raises the question of what is really going on with the Venezuela operation,” he said. » | Tyler Pager | Reporting from New York | Saturday, November 29, 2025
President Trump and his top aides have said that drug cartels present one of the most pressing dangers to the United States, and have promised to eradicate them from the Western Hemisphere.
As part of that effort, Mr. Trump signaled on Saturday that he was ratcheting up his campaign against drug cartels, saying in a social media post that airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered “CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
Less than 24 hours earlier, Mr. Trump had announced on social media that he was granting a full pardon to Juan Orlando Hernández, a former president of Honduras who had been convicted in the United States of drug trafficking charges in what was seen as a major victory for authorities in a case against a former head of state. That pardon has not yet been officially granted.
The two posts displayed a remarkable dissonance in the president’s strategy, as he moved to escalate a military campaign against drug trafficking while ordering the release of a man prosecutors said had taken “cocaine-fueled bribes” from cartels and “protected their drugs with the full power and strength of the state — military, police and justice system.” In fact, prosecutors said that Mr. Hernández, for years, allowed bricks of cocaine from Venezuela to flow through Honduras en route to the United States.
Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, called the pardon “unconscionable” and said that Mr. Trump’s actions were more evidence of a “bogus narrative” around his strategy to counter illicit drugs.
“It completely undercuts the administration’s claim that they really care about narco-trafficking, and that raises the question of what is really going on with the Venezuela operation,” he said. » | Tyler Pager | Reporting from New York | Saturday, November 29, 2025
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
L'ex-président hondurien arrêté pour trafic de drogues
LE FIGARO : Juan Orlando Hernandez pourrait être extradé vers les États-Unis qui l'accusent d'avoir exporté depuis le Honduras 500 tonnes de cocaïne pendant ses 8 ans de mandat. Son frère purge déjà une peine de prison à vie pour le même délit.
Mardi matin, Juan Orlando Hernandez, qui a laissé sa place de président du Honduras le 27 janvier dernier à Xiomara Castro, s'est finalement rendu aux forces de l'ordre qui encerclaient depuis quelques heures son domicile de Tegucigalpa, la capitale du pays. Cette arrestation, ordonnée par la Cour suprême de justice (CSJ), répondait à une demande d'extradition émise par les États-Unis. Il est accusé d'avoir pendant ses huit ans de mandat participé à l'exportation vers les États-Unis de 500 000 kilos de cocaïne. Les 14 pages de la demande d'extradition dénoncent sa politique qui a permis d'éliminer les cartels concurrents et de bâtir un monopole du trafic de stupéfiants. C'est un « trafic de drogue dirigé par l'État » qui est décrit dans le document. Son arrestation a été saluée par des cris de joie et des tirs de feux d'artifice dans la capitale et à San Pedro Sula, seconde ville du pays. » | Par Patrick Bèle | mercredi 16 février 2022
Réservé aux abonnés
Vom Palast in den Knast? Honduras’ Ex-Präsident Hernández droht die Auslieferung an die USA: Ende Januar hat Juan Orlando Hernández das höchste Staatsamt in Honduras an seine Nachfolgerin übergeben. Nun haben die USA seine Auslieferung beantragt, um ihm wegen Drogenhandels den Prozess zu machen. Sein Bruder sitzt dort bereits lebenslänglich. »
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Friday, September 12, 2008
BBC: A series of tit-for-tat expulsions has left the US without ambassadors in three Latin American countries.
Bolivia and Venezuela have expelled their US envoys, accusing Washington of trying to oust Bolivia's government.
Washington has responded by throwing out envoys from Bolivia and Venezuela and freezing the assets of three aides to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Meanwhile, Honduras has refused the credentials of a new US ambassador, postponing his appointment.
US officials said the actions of Venezuela and Bolivia showed their leaders' "weakness and desperation".
The BBC's Emilio San Pedro said relations between the US and Latin American opponents such as Mr Chavez had seemed to be on a holding pattern.
But the situation has changed in a matter of days, he says.
This week's arrival in Venezuela of two Russian bomber planes taking part in a military exercise is not thought to have helped the situation.
And with more joint military exercises in the pipeline, our correspondent says it could take a while for tensions to subside. Expulsions Stoke US-LatAm Dispute >>> | September 12, 2008
NZZ Online:
Auch Venezuela weist US-Botschafter aus: Chávez spricht von Solidarität mit Bolivien
Der venezolanische Präsident Chávez hat die Ausweisungen der Botschafter in Bolivien und den USA für einen eigenen Vorstoss genutzt. Venezuela hat ebenfalls den amerikanischen Botschafter ausgewiesen und beordert seinen Botschafter in den USA zurück. >>> | 12. September 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)