New York (AFP) - Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez went on trial in New York on Tuesday on charges of drug trafficking, including the transfer of 500 tons of cocaine through his country to the United States.
The 55-year-old Hernandez was extradited to the United States in 2022, accused of aiding drug smugglers in return for millions of dollars in bribes.
Flanked by his lawyers, Hernandez appeared in Manhattan's Southern District federal court during jury selection Tuesday morning.
Dressed in a suit and tie, he appeared looked nervous, constantly rubbing his hands together until attorney Raymond Colon asked him to calm down.
Judge P. Kevin Castel predicted the trial would last two to three weeks. Outside the courthouse, about two dozen Hondurans rallied, calling for Hernandez to be sentenced to life in jail and chanting "Here is your narco president."
Two of Hernandez's co-defendants, former Honduran police chief Juan Carlos "Tiger" Bonilla and ex-policeman Mauricio Hernandez, pleaded guilty in recent days to drug trafficking.
Their pleas, and any cooperation with the US authorities, will likely pile pressure on Hernandez to cut a deal with prosecutors.
If found guilty of the three charges against him, conspiracy to traffic drugs and two counts of trafficking and possession of weapons, Hernandez could effectively spend the rest of his life behind bars.
As president, Hernandez worked closely with the administration of former US leader Donald Trump, winning Washington's praise for his government's work in drug seizures and the fight against organized crime.
"He arrested people who had no ties to him, but he protected others," former US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Mikel Vigil told AFP.
Hernandez has insisted he is innocent and the "victim of a vendetta."
If found guilty, he would follow in the footsteps of other former Latin American heads of state convicted in the United States, like Panama's Manuel Noriega in 1992 and Guatemala's Alfonso Portillo in 2014.
Last year, Mexico's former homeland security minister Genaro Garcia Luna, the highest-ranking Mexican official to face a US trial, was found guilty of drug trafficking by a New York court. His sentencing is set for June 24.
Hernandez, whose 2014 to 2022 stint as president was plagued by allegations of corruption, is accused of having facilitated the smuggling of some 500 tons of cocaine -- mainly from Colombia and Venezuela -- to the United States via Honduras since 2004, starting long before his presidency.
US prosecutors say Hernandez turned Honduras into a "narco-state" by involving the military, police and civilians in drug trafficking.
Hernandez used the drug money to enrich himself and finance his political campaign, and commit electoral fraud in the 2013 and 2017 presidential elections, the indictment alleges.
Several drug traffickers have told US prosecutors they paid bribes to Hernandez's inner circle. By the time he left office, DEA agents were ready to move against him.
