Defendants

• Three accused Hondurans (ex-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, Mauricio Hernández Pineda, Juan Carlos ‘El Tigre’ Bonilla)

Also ‘on trial’

• U.S. and Canadian governments, North American companies, other actors in the “international community”.

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 headlines. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will look like the drug war saviors. 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 most important element of the story will be missing.

For close to 13 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:

Mutually-beneficial, symbiotic relationship that left Honduras in ruins

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), all while committing countless acts of corruption and human rights abuses in the name of the War on Drugs, citizen security, bringing “development” to Honduras, and stopping migration.

The Honduras Solidarity Network and Honduras Now will launch this 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, and then maintained full political, military and economic relations with the post-coup, military-backed ‘interim’ government.
• Recapping how the U.S. and Canada recognized as “legitimate” three sets of violent, fraudulent elections (2009, 2013, 2017) to maintain the charade of referring to the narco-dictatorship as a ‘democratic ally’.
• Report on U.S. and Canadian companies that did dirty deals with the narco-dictatorship.
• Highlight 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 killings and other abuses.
• Post trial notes and videos throughout the duration of the February 2024 trial, while drawing any pertinent connections with U.S. and Canadian policies and actions in Honduras.
• Campaign 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

X: @HondurasNow / @hondrassol
IG: HondurasNow
Web: hondurasnow.org

Fundraising for campaign

The HSN and Honduras Now need support covering the costs of ‘putting the US and Canada on trial.’

• 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

To donate: https://www.hondurasnow.org/donate/

(For detailed budget outline, email: [email protected])

Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & U.S.)

To support land and environmental defenders, and human rights, justice and democracy defense struggles in Honduras and Guatemala, make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:

• U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
• Canada: Box 82858, RPO Cabbagetown Toronto, ON, M5A 3Y2

Credit-Card Donations: https://rightsaction.org/donate/
Direct deposits, write to: [email protected]
Donations of securities, write to: [email protected]

*******

Please share and re-post this information

*******

More info: [email protected], www.rightsaction.org
e-Newsletter: https://rightsaction.org/subscribe
Previous e-Newsletters: https://rightsaction.org/emails
https://www.facebook.com/RightsAction.org
https://twitter.com/RightsAction
https://www.instagram.com/rightsaction
https://www.youtube.com/user/rightsaction