El Chapo, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Barack Obama Among Those Ex-Honduras President Wants as Witnesses in His Drug Trafficking Case

Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez wants to call Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera to the stand as a defense witness in his high-profile drug trafficking case in New York.

After Tuesday's hearing outside the Manhattan federal courthouse, Hernandez's lawyer Raymond Colon told reporters that they would subpoena El Chapo.

Colon noted that the government would have to produce the Sinaloa cartel boss if the judge orders it, adding that people would have to hear what he had to say, NBC New York reported.

Hernandez's lawyer also said he would try to subpoena other witnesses, such as President Joe Biden and former presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama. Former top U.S. security officials like John Kelly and Mike Pompeo were also included in the list of Hernandez's witnesses.

Hernandez's lawyer said Trump and Obama could vouch for his client and testify that they considered Hernandez an ally after becoming the first Honduran president to agree to the extradition of drug traffickers from Honduras to the U.S.

As for subpoenaing Biden, Colon said the president might be busy running the country, but "why not?" He noted that his goal would be to show Hernandez, for years, cooperated with U.S. officials and that he had been "set-up" by drug traffickers.

Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez Pleads Not Guilty

According to BBC, Juan Orlando Hernandez pleaded not guilty to drugs and weapons charges in a Manhattan court on Tuesday.

Wearing a dark-blue prison uniform with chains around his ankles, the former president of Honduras only spoke to utter his not guilty plea in Spanish. Hernandez's lawyer has also complained about the "inhuman" prison conditions faced by his client, like "he is a prisoner of war."

Colon told the judge that they were not asking for special treatment because Hernandez was a former head of state, but he described the conditions as "psychologically debilitating."

He claimed that Hernandez had only been allowed out of his cell once to exercise in the 20 days he had been held and has been unable to communicate with his family in Honduras.

Before the hearing, Hernandez's camp described the case as a "vendetta masquerading as a prosecution."

Juan Orlando Hernandez and El Chapo's Drug Charges

The 53-year-old former president of Honduras is facing three criminal charges: conspiracy to import a controlled substance into the U.S., using or carrying firearms, including machine guns, and conspiracy to use or carry firearms.

Hernandez, who governed Honduras until January, said he was innocent and argued that disgruntled drug traffickers were trying to frame him. He was extradited to the U.S. on April 21, less than three months after his second term in office ended.

U.S. prosecutors alleged that Hernandez worked with some of the world's most notorious drug traffickers to build a corrupt and brutally violent empire based on illegal trafficking.

The former president allegedly facilitated the importation of hundreds of thousands of kilograms of cocaine to the U.S. beginning in 2004, New York Daily News reported.

The prosecutors said Hernandez earned millions of dollars in bribes by using his power to facilitate the flow of drugs and firearms into the U.S. In court on Tuesday, they cited evidence like wiretap recordings, evidence from his phone, and other electronics in addition to cooperating witnesses.

But Colon said the former president has maintained not taking millions in payoffs from drug kingpins, including El Chapo, in exchange for helping them transport large amounts of illegal drugs through Honduras to the U.S. The lawyer noted that El Chapo could tell a jury that he never met Hernandez.

"Hopefully, they'll bring him over... I believe he was actually quoted as saying, 'I had no interaction or transactions or dealings with President Hernandez'," Colon said.

El Chapo was among the people who established the Sinaloa Cartel from the remnants of the Guadalajara Cartel after its leader Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo was arrested in 1989. The Sinaloa Cartel is one of Mexico's largest and most powerful drug trafficking organizations.

Under El Chapo's leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel earned its reputation through violence and outfought several rival groups. El Chapo was sentenced to spend the rest of his days in the ADX Florence "supermax" prison in Colorado after being sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019.

Hernandez is currently being held at the Brooklyn detention facility. U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel sets Hernandez's next court date for September 28 and said the trial could begin on January 17, 2023.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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