translated from Spanish: A witness claims to have witnessed “Chapo” Guzmán give a million to the brother of the Honduran president

Alexander Ardón, witness in the case for drug trafficking in the United States against former Honduran deputy Juan Antonio ‘Tony’ Hernández, said on Monday (07.10.2019) that Mexican capo Joaquín ‘el Chapo’ Guzmán delivered in 2013 a million dollars to the defendant for the campaign of his brother and current president, Juan Orlando Hernandez. During his testimony on the fourth day of the drug-trafficking trial against ‘Tony’ Hernandez in a federal court in Manhattan, Ardón assured the jury that the defendant helped him traffic between 30 and 40 tons of cocaine into the United States between 2010 and Hernandez’s arrest in November 2018.
Ardón, who was mayor of the city of El Paraíso, next to the border with Guatemala, explained that at a meeting held in this municipality ‘El Chapo’ he gave a million dollars in packages of 50,000 and 100,000 dollars to Juan Antonio Hernández. He said he himself was involved in counting the money. According to the testimony of Ardón, who has pleaded guilty to leading “a gang of drug traffickers” and drug trafficking, money laundering and manslaughter, he noted that El Chapo asked Juan Antonio Hernandez for the phone number.
“That money was for Juan Orlando Hernandez’s campaign”
“El Chapo’ asked ‘Tony’ for the number, and told him he was going to give him a million dollars for Juan Orlando Hernandez’s campaign,” which was a candidate for the presidency of Honduras. “Tony Hernandez told ‘El Chapo’ that that money was for Juan Orlando Hernandez’s campaign,” Ardón explained, while ‘Tony’ Hernandez, in a blue suit, looked at him seriously and took notes from his statements.
Ardón explained that he met the former deputy in 2008 and that he has worked with him since 2010 on the distribution of cocaine. He also told how the defendant possessed high-caliber weapons, including an AR-15 with a clipped gun and even an M60, and that he told him that the latter “passed over the armored tanks”. In addition, he added that he helped the defendant distribute between 30 and 40 tons of cocaine bound for the United States. The former mayor, who acknowledged killing 56 people, admitted that he and his family helped introduce about 250 tons of cocaine to the United States between 2002 and 2019.
Cooperating Witness 3
The New York prosecutor’s office claims that the defendant’s brother, Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez, received millions of dollars from drug trafficking in bribery and electoral funding, but has not formally framed him and the representative rejects the accusations . Their mother was present in the courtroom and assured journalists in court corridors that their son is innocent.
Ardon, 43, also known as ‘Chande’ or ‘AA’, surrendered to U.S. justice in March 2019 in Guatemala, and pleaded guilty to being the leader of a gang of drug traffickers, drug trafficking to the United States, of homicide, of using automatic weapons to commit crimes, money laundering and to partner with other gangs of drug dealers using high-power weapons. It cooperates with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and in the court documents of the case is identified as “CW3” (cooperative witness 3).

Original source in Spanish