As an organized crime investigator, I’ve covered many headline-grabbing stories. But none of them were as jaw-dropping as the arrest, extradition, and drug trafficking conviction of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, a once staunch US ally who US prosecutors accused of turning his country into a “narco-state.”
That story took an unexpected turn this week. On December 1, Hernández walked free from prison after serving less than two years of a 45-year sentence thanks to a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. The decision was remarkable on its own, but I found myself thinking more about what it said about the contradictions of the “war on drugs” in Latin America.
In this so-called “war,” not everyone is treated equally.
While the former Honduran president received amnesty for his involvement in cocaine trafficking, the president of Venezuela faces the threat of a US military invasion over similar accusations.
Then there was the leader of the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, who was accused of flooding the United States with illicit fentanyl, but this week reached a plea agreement with US prosecutors in hopes of a lighter sentence. Meanwhile, poor fishermen piloting suspected drug trafficking vessels continue to be killed by US drone strikes without any due process.
US anti-drug policies in Latin America have long been complicated by the tensions between sound crime-fighting strategies and political considerations. But today, the multilateral security cooperation that has underpinned these efforts feels at risk of collapsing as internal contradictions undermine US counternarcotics credibility.
Be sure to follow along as we cover all of the ways in which the regional organized crime fight continues to evolve.
