Ex-president of Honduras denies during trial that he trafficked drugs

Honduras’ former two-term president denied in court Tuesday that he had trafficked narcotics, offered police protection to drug cartels or accepted bribes — claims at the heart of a conspiracy trial taking place in Manhattan.

Former President Juan Orlando Hernández has been on trial in Federal District Court for two weeks on charges of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. Prosecutors said he worked with ruthless drug gangs like the Sinaloa Cartel, led by Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzman Loera, better known as El Chapo.

The government’s witnesses include a series of former human traffickers from Honduras who have said they bribed Mr. Hernández in exchange for promises that he would shield them from investigations and protect them from extradition to the United States.

Dressed in a dark suit with a blue shirt and tie, Mr. Hernández sat upright during his testimony, sometimes giving long, discursive answers that prompted the judge overseeing the trial to rein him in.

Other times his answers were curt.

“Have you ever received bribes from El Chapo?” one of Mr. Hernández’s lawyers asked at one point.

“Never,” Mr. Hernández replied.

He gave the same answer to successive questions about whether he had ever met El Chapo, his traffickers or anyone claiming to be a member of the Sinaloa Cartel.

When one of his lawyers asked whether he had promised cartels that he would protect them, Mr. Hernández replied: “On the contrary, sir. The problem was that we were going to end them.”

Throughout the trial, rows of benches in the courtroom have been filled with Hondurans who watched Mr. Hernández perform in a judicial process of the kind that some doubted could have taken place in Honduras. Those who couldn’t find a seat in the courtroom instead watched the proceedings on a large screen in an overflow room on another floor of the courthouse.

During Mr. Hernández’s direct testimony on Tuesday, some in the courtroom gallery were entranced. Sometimes others laughed derisively, and on one occasion a statement from Mr. Hernández was met with a long hiss.

It is almost always considered risky for a criminal defendant to testify, because friendly questions from an attorney are usually followed by sharp cross-examination by prosecutors.

Some defendants decide to testify because they believe they can influence jurors; Others may choose to take a stand if they feel the tide of litigation is turning against them and they have little to lose.

During cross-examination of Hernández on Tuesday afternoon, a prosecutor asked him why several accused traffickers whose extradition had been requested by the United States had not been turned over while he was president. Mr. Hernández responded that his government had referred all extradition requests to the Honduran Supreme Court.

Later, the prosecutor asked Mr. Hernández about a photo taken during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa that showed him with a man named Miguel Arnulfo Valle Valle, who was a leader of a violent drug gang. Mr. Hernández responded that he believed the photo had been the subject of a debate over whether it was a fake or a “photomontage.”

“The person with his arm around you is Arnulfo Valle?” the prosecutor asked.

Mr. Hernández replied: “Sir, I do not know Mr. Arnulfo Valle.”

During his political career as a member of the right-wing Honduran National Party, Mr. Hernández was seen as adept at amassing power and willing to use it, sometimes bluntly.

When the Supreme Court rejected laws he pushed through while president of the Honduran Congress, Congress simply replaced four justices. Later, the Supreme Court changed the rules to allow Mr. Hernández to serve a second term as president of Honduras.

Political opponents alleged that the presidential elections Hernández won in 2013 and 2017 were marred by fraud. Prosecutors in New York said he financed both with drug money. Distrust of the 2017 election results led to protests blocking roads and bridges.

Prosecutors said Mr. Hernández gave money to a political party colleague who paid gang members to commit violence, and that protesters died in clashes with security forces that followed.

By the time his second term ended, Mr. Hernández was deeply unpopular. His government had failed to reduce crime or create a healthy economy, which in part led to migration from Honduras. His successor as president, Xiomara Castro, accused Mr. Hernández of turning the country into a “narco-dictatorship.” Thousands of Hondurans celebrated when he was extradited to New York.

On Tuesday, Mr. Hernández portrayed himself as a loyal partner of American officials in their fight to stem the flow of drugs across the country’s southern border. He said he had had several meetings about this with U.S. officials, including Gen. John Kelly, then commander of the U.S. Army’s Southern Command.

“I asked General Kelly to help us in our fight against drug trafficking,” Mr. Hernández said, adding: “The Southern Command helped us create an elite force that we called the Tigers.”

As Mr. Hernández was questioned, onlookers in the overflow room were more animated than those who had watched in the courtroom. At times, laughter filled the room, including when Mr. Hernández expressed surprise at the World Cup photo showing him with Mr. Valle.

After the trial ended, Mr. Hernández buttoned his suit jacket, rose from the witness stand and was led back by a federal marshal to the seat at the defense table he had occupied since the beginning of the trial.