U.S. and Canada-backed Narco-State on Trial in New York
The “US and Canada-backed narco-state” campaign will begin in January 2024. The New York trial of three Honduran drug traffickers, including ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández is currently set for February 5, 2024. While the trial unfolds in New York, the Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN) and Honduras Now will put the U.S., Canada and the “international community” on trial for backing the rise of a narco-state in Honduras since the 2009 coup d’état. See the full description below.
Funds needed for successful launch in January 2024.
Defendents
The U.S. and Canadian governments, North American companies, the “international community” and the three accused Hondurans, ex-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, Mauricio Hernández Pineda, and Juan Carlos ‘El Tigre’ Bonilla.
Description
In February 2024, the ex-President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández (alias JOH) and two other Hondurans will be tried in a U.S. court for drug trafficking and weapons-related charges.
The buzz around the trial will be huge. The bad guys will be paraded around and make the headlines. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will look like the drug war saviors, and the U.S. and Canadian governments will talk about the ‘rule of law,’ ‘human rights’, and ‘punishment for those that abused their power’.
But the biggest and most important element of the story will be missing.
For 12 years, the U.S., Canada and ‘international community’ maintained full relations with military-backed drug-trafficking regimes in Honduras. Starting largely with their support for the 2009 military coup, the U.S., Canada, International Financial Institutions (IFIs), JOH and his National Party signed Free Trade Agreements, created a favorable business climate for U.S. and Canadian companies, and conducted joint military, police, and drug war operations. For years, the U.S. and Canada lied and covered-up their knowing support for a corrupt, narco-state.
The Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN) and Honduras Now ask:
The narco-dictatorship in Honduras was built through a mutually-beneficial and symbiotic relationship between the Honduran regimes and its international allies. The U.S. and Canada benefited from JOH’s policies and power and looked the other way as JOH’s government and the Honduran military and police trafficked cocaine and “stuffed cocaine up the noses of the gringos” (as JOH is alleged to have said) and committed countless acts of corruption and human rights abuses in the name of the War on Drugs, citizen security, and stopping migration.
The Honduras Solidarity Network and Honduras Now will be launching a campaign to put our own governments on trial for backing a narco-dictatorship that left Honduras in ruins.
The campaign will include:
- Recapping and exposing the role of the U.S. and Canada in legitimizing the June 2009 military coup that ousted the elected government of then President Zelaya. This includes legitimizing and maintaining full political, military and economic relations with the post-coup, military backed ‘interim’ government, and three sets of violent, fraudulent elections (2009, 2013, 2017) to maintain the charade of referring to the narco-dictatorship as a ‘democratic ally’.
- Exposing U.S. and Canadian companies that did dirty deals with the narco-dictatorship.
- Highlighting the failures and farse of the U.S.-led War on Drugs, including the role of the U.S.-trained and funded Honduran police and military in abuses.
- Posting trial notes and videos throughout the duration of the February 2024 trial, and drawing the connections with U.S. and Canadian policies and actions in Honduras.
- Campaigning to demand that the U.S., Canada and the IFIs be held responsible for policies that support dictatorships while profiting and ignoring serious human rights abuses.
How to follow the campaign
On X: @HondurasNow and @hondrassol, IG: HondurasNow, Web: hondurasnow.org
Campaign launch: January 2024
Trial dates: February 5 to approx. February 23, 2024 (pending any date changes determined by the judge. Trial length still TBD)
****
Fundraising for the launch
The HSN and Honduras Now need support covering the costs of ‘putting the US and Canada on trial.’ Efforts will be led by Karen Spring with support from HSN members, and Honduran groups and journalists. For a more detailed outline, email: karen@hondurasnow.org
Travel: $1500
Living expenses in New York for a small team: $10,000
Translation, tech equipment, and web support: $3,500
Total requested: $15,000 USD