US President Pardons Convicted Drug Lord (Again)
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who led a corrupt, narco-state, was a key recipient of US aid and support for years, despite growing evidence of his cocaine-fueled enterprise. The US government celebrated him as a valuable anti-drug-trafficking partner, even as his brother, Tony Hernandez, a former Honduran lawmaker, was convicted in 2019 for drug trafficking and his own
country's prosecutor accused him. This isn't a glitch, it's a feature. The US has a long, storied history of propping up brutal dictators and drug-trafficking regimes across Latin America, from Pinochet to Noriega, providing them with billions in aid and political cover, only to belatedly prosecute them when they're no longer 'useful.' It makes one wonder if 'rule of law' is just a suggestion when
America's strategic interests (and the flow of drugs) are concerned. How many more 'allies' must be convicted before the US stops funding its own problems?