Honduras Now

Narco-trial Update #11: “There is No Line Between Regular Business and Trafficking,” Says DEA Agent About Honduras

Pin
Karen Spring Filed Under: Narco-trial Campaign

The jury is deliberating in the trial against Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH). As we wait for a verdict, we send this reminder that U.S. and Canadian companies that operated and continue to operate in Honduras benefited directly from the narco-state. Despite JOH being on trial in New York, U.S. and Canadian economic and geopolitical interests continue to drive our policies in Central America. JOH’s trial and the verdict will not change this.

Under the narco-state, Canada’s Gildan Activewear, Aura Minerals, Banana Coast, and NJOI, among others, and the U.S.’s Dycorp, Development Finance Corporation, COVI (toll roads), Nucor Corporation, Honduras Próspera Inc., St. John’s Bay Development Company LLC, and Próspera Arbitration Center LLC, all benefitted from doing business with the narco-state.

See below for more.

International funding for projects like the Agua Zarca dam have caused on-going devastating consequences for communities across Honduras. The FMO, Finnfund, and the Central American Bank of Economic Integration funded Honduran company DESA owned by the Atala Zablah family that attempted to build the dam. The communities of Rio Blanco, COPINH, and Berta Cáceres opposed the dam and at least five people were murdered, including Berta, one of the most well-known and respected activists in Honduras. Foreign companies and banks profited off the violence and corruption that sought to push through unwanted “development” projects in post-coup Honduras and especially under the government of Juan Orlando Hernández. Photo courtesy of COPINH.

*****

October 6, 2015 during a DEA interrogation with Yankel Rosenthal, a confessed drug trafficking and cousin of the current head of the Liberal Party of Honduras, Yani Rosenthal.

DEA Agent 1: “Listen, you live in a screwed up country. I get that.”

Yankel Rosenthal: “That I get”

DEA Agent 1: “Traff… and I understand that trafficking is everyday business in Honduras.”

Rosenthal: “It is, not for me.”

DEA Agent 1: “Listen. I’m not your priest. I’m not your fucking mama. I’m just a guy that’s doing my job.”

Rosenthal: “Yeah, but …”

DEA Agent 1: “And I understand that where you’re from. And I understand that there is no line between regular business and trafficking. I get that …”

In 2017, Yankel Rosenthal plead guilty to “attempting to engage in monetary transactions in property derived from drug trafficking offenses.” He was sentenced to 29 months in prison and has since been released.

#PublicInquiriesNow: Foreign Companies and Their Odious Investments in Honduras Under the Narco-State.

Today, over 11 companies are suing the Honduran government for revoking contracts or laws that violate investor-state mechanisms in free trade agreements by not protecting their investments in the country. Many of these contracts were signed while JOH was in power and in some cases, were outright rejected by local communities or nationally and based on corruption. This is not to mention the fact that some U.S. and Canadian companies paid bribes to JOH and/or worked directly with drug traffickers (more on this in later updates). However, like the DEA, many of these companies knew the conditions in which they were investing in Honduras were questionable at best.

Read more:

  1. Spring, K. “The Marriage of Drug Money and Neoliberal Development in Honduras” in NACLA, November 5, 2020. Summary: Narcotrafficking cases touching the highest levels of the Honduran state reveal how intricate corruption networks launder drug money through extractive investment projects. Communities in resistance must contend not only with state repression, but also illicit interests.
  2. Spring, K. “Government Reforms Face Corporate Backlash in Honduras” in NACLA, November 22, 2023. Summary: As President Xiomara Castro’s administration works to mitigate the fallout of the post-coup years, transnational companies are lining up to sue the state for lost profits.

To follow and support the campaign

We are campaigning to hold the U.S. and Canada responsible for supporting the Honduran narco-state as former President Juan Orlando Hernández & police officers go to trial in New York on February 2024 (pending any further date changes).

  • Read Update #1: U.S. and Canadian support for the coup: Creating the conditions for the construction of a narco-state.
  • Read Update #2: Trial date change. The campaign continues.
  • Read Update #3: “The U.S. government’s go-to man on the war on drug trafficking” pleads guilty to drug trafficking
  • Read Update #4: The U.S. and Canada Supported Three Contested and Fraudulent Elections (2009, 2013, 2017).
  • Read Update #5: Live from New York.
  • Read Update #6: The U.S. Government is Blocking the Use of Classified Information Outlining U.S. Relations with JOH and the Narco-state.
  • Read Update #7: The Trial Against Juan Orlando Hernández Finally Starts in New York
  • Read Update #8: Testimony in Trial Shows How U.S. and Canada Ignored Warnings of 2013 Drug Violence.
  • Read Update #9: Honduras Was ‘Open for Business’ (and Drug Trafficking)
  • Read Update #10: U.S.-trained High Level Military Officials Involved in Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

Facebook: Honduras Solidarity Network & Honduras Now
X (formerly Twitter): @Hondurassol @HondurasNow
Instagram: @HondurasNow
Web: Bit.ly/NarcoTrialCampaign
Contact: karen@hondurasnow.org & honsolnetwork@gmail.com
To donate: hondurasnow.org/donate

Pin