DAY NINE: Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH)’s brother, Tony Hernandez on Trial in New York
/What Happened Today:
Closing statements by the prosecution and the defense.
The judge began to give instructions to the jury about how they should deliberate and reach a verdict.
Key Details that Surfaced:
One of the weapon images extracted from Tony’s phone that was seized by US authorities when he was arrested in Miami in November 2018. Picture posted by Pro-Honduras Network.
Prosecutor’s closing remarks: The prosecution outlined the contributions of 5 cooperating witnesses and the 5 types of physical evidence that were presented throughout the trial.
The prosecution explained to the court how the 10 pieces of presented evidence fit with the context and facts in the case, explaining how they fit into the following topics and modus operandi of defendant’s drug trafficking: 1. How the Central American drug trade works and the defendant’s role in it, 2. How the defendant trafficked drugs by providing logistical support for cocaine shipments; had a cocaine supply and name; and was protected/benefitted from state-sponsored drug trafficking. Finally, the prosecution outlined how he is guilty of the 4 charges against him: one for conspiring to import cocaine; two weapons charges; and lying to federal agents. The Prosecution was given 30 minutes following the defense’s closing remarks to rebuttal defense’s concluding remarks.
Quotes of the day from the Prosecution:
"We ask for justice that is long awaited in Honduras" - Prosecutor Emil Bove,
"The defendant used the police and used his brother, the President of the country to protect his drug trafficking allies. All power and prestige mean nothing in this courtroom." - Prosecutor Amanda Houle
Defense’s closing remarks: Argued that the prosecution used 5 strategies to present their case that should generate doubt or that attempt to provoke a wrongful reaction from the jury. These are: “shock and awe” (provoking reactions intended to distract instead of focus on facts); “because we said so” (arguments that rely on what the prosecution said instead of presented as evidence); “mix up and match up” (not adequately cross-referencing pictures, evidence, etc.); “rip out the page” (taking transcripts and statements that Tony made out of context); “A big deal is no big deal” (referring to relying on five dangerous drug trafficker’s testimonies as major sources of evidence and proof against Tony).
What Will Happen Tomorrow:
The judge will continue to instruct the jury tomorrow morning then the case will be given to the jury for deliberations.
Its unknown how long the jury will take to deliberate then the verdict will be announced. If found guilty of one or more of the crimes, Tony faces any where between 5 years to multiple life sentences.
More Details:
The summary below is structured exactly how the prosecution and the defense structured their closing remarks. The summary paraphrases from what was said in the courtroom and should not be considered direct quotes unless indicated in the text.
Closing Remarks by the Prosecution (US Prosecutor Emil Bove) (2.5 hours):
OPENING
There are 8,000 individual doses in a kilo of cocaine and there is real misery in that number. Every single dose can leave a child without a parent … but really, that’s not why we are here.
This man, Tony Hernandez, helped to import 200,000 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. That’s $1.6 billion doses of poison. Each kilogram is worth more than $30,0000. Each kilogram could cause horrific violence from Colombia to the US and many did. The numbers are staggering.
Honduras is smaller than New York State. For 15 years, the defendant “ravaged his country” to send cocaine to the United States with zero regard and concern to those he placed at risk.
In 2004, he started to provide information – the schedule at military bases and about the DEA. He used the National police to provide security to drug traffickers. In 2006, he had risen – he became a supplier and manufacturer. He became “so arrogant” that he put his initials on cocaine. The public institutions are rotten in Honduras because he used them to further his business.
In 2005, the National party lost the elections and they vowed to never let it happen again. After losing the elections, they put drug money into the National party to win the elections in 2009, 2013 and 2017. These were not campaign contributions – they were a payment for protection. They infiltrated the government.
Early on in their drug trafficking, they relied on bad apples in Honduran institutions but by 2010, they used public institutions for their drug trafficking and they became virtually untouchable. In 2010, massive drug trafficking started. The President deployed the military to the border to defend drug traffickers and they used the National police to kill drug rivals and then protected them.
El Chapo went to Honduras in 2013 – twice! The second time he went, he handed $1 million in cash to the President in exchange for protection. And he wasn’t arrested either. Either was the defendant.
From 2004 to 2012, it wasn’t possible for the drug traffickers to be extradited because the Honduran Constitution prohibited it. As a Congressman in 2014 to 2018, the defendant was protected from extradition.
Think about the defense’s argument – put it into perspective. If people in Ohio were shipping drugs to Canada and using police to do that, its not plausible that that person wouldn’t be investigated. The most violent drug traffickers in Honduras were not arrested. The defendant and other drug traffickers smothered Honduras in corruption to achieve their objective.
OUTLINE OF ARGUMENTS/PRESENTATION:
We presented 5 cooperating witnesses. The defense wants you to think that they are seeking revenge but this argument doesn’t make sense. The crimes that the witnesses committed are every bit as tragic as those committed by the defendant but the defendant chose his co-conspirators, not us. Many of them came to the United States and admitted their crimes. They were not charged in Honduras. They voluntarily disclosed these things. It doesn’t make sense for the collaborating witnesses to come here and give us information with that intention. .
One of the arguments of the defense is that these criminals were “signed, sealed and delivered by Juan Orlando Hernandez.” But this isn’t true. Three surrendered voluntarily and 2 were extradited by Guatemala. Juan Orlando Hernandez did not extradite any of them. This argument is a distraction, a sideshow. Listening to one witness is enough to convict the defendant, and you have heard from 5 of them.
We presented 4 types of physical evidence.
1. Recordings of the defendant’s meeting at Denny’s – In 2014, the defendant was a newly elected Congressman. He agreed to help a man to give payments to a US sanctioned company. The video shows that he is confident meeting with Leonel Rivera Maradiaga because the defendant is a drug trafficker. He met with another drug trafficker with no problem.
2. Wiretap – In 2016, the DEA intercepted a communication (through a wiretap) indicating that there were several hundreds of TH stamped packages of cocaine. This is an independent source of evidence. Its not a drawing. The defendant stamped his own drugs.
3. Drug ledgers (aka narco notebooks) – This drug ledger had the defendant’s name in it. In 2018, it was seized by police from a vehicle carrying 2 pistols, grenades and cash in a secret compartment. There were 650 kilograms discussed in the ledger. In 2018, the defendant was still distributing cocaine.
4. Recording of defendant’s 2018 interview when arrested – The defendant admitted to having a relationship with drug traffickers including people that testified at this trial. He admitted that the TH stamp on cocaine stands for Tony Hernandez.
5. Phones seized from defendant in 2018 – On the defendant’s phones, there were pictures of cash and machine guns. Think about the security that he needed in order to traffic drugs. The pictures show you the guns he used for security.
The defendant is guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Let’s talk about:
Four charges that the defendant is accused of:
DRUGS
Count One: Conspiring to import cocaine into the US. Min. 10 years to maximum of life in prison.
Conspiring to traffic over 5,000 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. Conspiring is an agreement. The question is whether the offense involved more than 5 kilograms of cocaine. We heard about 200,000 kilos and every shipment we heard about, is enough to make the defendant guilty.
WEAPONS
Count two: Using & carrying machine guns and destructive devices during and possessing machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of, the cocaine-importation conspiracy. Min. 30 years to max. life
Using or possessing weapons to traffic cocaine. These include machine guns, grenades.
Count three: Conspiring to use and carry machine guns and destructive devices during and to possess machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of, the cocaine-importation conspiracy. Max. Life in prison
LIES
Count four: Making false statements to federal agents. Max. 5 years.
The defendant “overplayed his hand the day he spoke to US authorities. He thought he was so powerful that he could lie.”
OUTLINE OF WHAT I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT:
I. Central American cocaine trade
II. Defendant’s drug trafficking
a. Logistical support for cocaine shipments
b. Cocaine supply and name
c. State-sponsored drug trafficking
III. Charges
I. Central America Cocaine Trade:
You will see that every feature of the cocaine trade is illustrated by the drug ledger that was seized in Honduras and is included as evidence in this case.
The cocaine that the defendant was transporting was manufactured in Colombia with products like gas, acetone, ammonia, etc. Then the drugs needed to be transported to Central America. The ledger shows and refers to a “Nava” and Chang [collaborating witness] explained this was a code for the type of plane that was used to transport the drugs to Central America.
a) Drugs were trafficked and picked up by radars. “El Rojo” explained that “TV” [as used in the ledger] was code for air radar. Chang confirmed this and the ledger refers to payments made for information about the radars.
b) The defendant helped planes land in eastern Honduras where there are mountains and juggles to hide the landing strips.
c) Then the drugs were transported across the country. The ledger refers to the payments made for this to happen. The defendant tried to protect these expensive shipments using the national police. The defendant’s phone has pictures of these police escorts that were used.
d) The drugs were then taken across the border. This was illustrated by the wiretap transcription between Male 1 and Male 2 [this is evidence that was introduced]. Special Agent Mervis said that 90% of the cocaine that passes through Honduras successfully makes it way to the United States. When trafficking drugs from South America to Honduras, the value of the cocaine increases and its gets closer to the market. In Colombia, one kilogram is worth $3,000. Once its gets to Central America, its worth $9,000 to $10,000. Its then taken from Honduras to Guatemala where the drug price per kilogram becomes $11,000 to $16,000, and then between Mexico and the United States, the price rises to $30,000 to $35,000/kilogram. For these drugs, the defendant got paid in dollars that were cycled back from the US to Central America after the drugs were sold in the US.
Think about how much money the defendant made. He would have made on one shipment alone, $4.9 million. The ledger proves that the defendant participated in drug trafficking activities.
II. Defendant’s drug trafficking (phases of his drug trafficking career):
a) Logistical support for cocaine shipments: The defendant started to provide logistical support to drug traffickers in 2004. In 2006, the defendant had access to laboratories and continued until he was arrested. We know that from the drug ledger.
a. “Information and logistics” – The defendant is guilty just for making himself available to drug traffickers, but he did more than that. (Prosecutor shows part of Tony’s interrogation video). “El Rojo” described how the defendant did this. Carlos Toledo was the defendant’s best friend. Toledo introduced El Rojo to Tony Hernandez (the defendant admitted this.
In 2004, the defendant met El Rojo. He admitted this in the video. He had access to political power and admitted to being introduced to El Rojo and admitted to meeting with Don H (who was El Rojo’s boss until approximately 2015).
b. El Rojo explained the cocaine routes – In the post-arrest video, the defendant talked about the drugs coming into Honduras, going to Guatemala and then being shipped to Mexico. He knew about the conspiracy to traffic drugs.
c. Toledo tells defendant about cocaine routes – (shows Tony’s post-arrest video) – The defendant talks about the lights used on the drug landing strips. In 2004 to 2010, the defense argues that he didn’t have access to politicians. But in the defendant’s phone seized by US authorities, he had contacts for Coronel Ruiz, FUSINA; Coronel Moskitia; Coronel Valerio; Coronel helicopter. He had these saved in his phone and some of them even named after why he contacted them.
d. Connections to police – Cooperating witness Geovani Rodriguez was one of them and spoke about this. He worked with El Rojo and talked about Mauricio Hernandez who in 2006/2007, began working with El Rojo and the defendant.
e. Connections to politicians – El Rojo said that the defendant wasn’t only a powerful person but he had connections. Juan Carlos Valenzuela was mentioned. He was a council member but then became a Congressman. El Rojo talked about Mario Jose Calix who was a mayor at one point. In the post-arrest video, Tony admits knowing Juan Carlos Valenzuela and talks about El Rojo and Don H. The defendant also admitted (in the post-arrest video) that he knew Calix. He lied when he said that he didn’t have much contact with him anymore. If you look at when the contact was saved in his phone you will see this (displays screen shot that shows April 2018).
f. Defendant’s role: “zero” problems – The defendant told El Rojo that there would be zero problems or arrests if they continued to pay him.
To sum up:
The defendant gave other drug traffickers radar information, information about police check points and kept certain police in key positions in Copan such as he did with Lozano, Santos, Hernandez and Rodriguez; and he gave them investigative information. He also gave them information about military operations in the Puerto Castilla and Naco bases. The drug traffickers needed to understand military bases and their assets (like what kind of planes they had on the bases). For example, they needed to know when people from Tegucigalpa were going to the Naco military base because those people couldn’t be controlled. The defendant also gave information about DEA flight training and told them to be careful because pilots were receiving night training.
The defendant was paid for this. El Rojo outlined this. The defendant talked about how he received gifts from El Rojo including a watch. This is part of the evidence that he was part of the conspiracy.
b) Cocaine Supply and Name:
In 2006, the defendant partnered with El Cinco. He told El Rojo about the TH stamps. On his expired passport that he was carrying with him when he was arrested, there was a stamp in his passport from when he visited San Andres in April 2006 (showed picture on screen). Three of the cooperating witnesses said that they saw cocaine with the TH stamp on it. Even the defendant said when asked about it in the post-arrest video that TH supposedly stands for “Tony Hernandez” because he was a “very arrogant and protected drug trafficker.” When he realized he had gone too far, his response was “who would do that and put their initials on something so senitive”
Cocaine production supply – We heard about a 2008 cocaine shipment of approximately 700 kilograms that landed in Sico [Valley in eastern Honduras]. The plane was registered in the US. El Rojo and Chang told us that.
We heard about another cocaine shipment in 2008 of 500 kilograms. It landed in Gualaco (eastern Honduras) on a landing strip controlled by Calix.
El Rojo talked about 1000 kilos that were trafficked into El Espiritu that was the base town of the Valle cartel that introduced the defendant to El Cinco.
There were 5 more times that the defendant sent 700 kilograms to Chang between 2008 and 2010.
c) State-sponsored drug trafficking – In 2004/2005, the defendant worked with Don H and El Rojo. In 2005, El Rojo gave $40,000 to the defendant for Juan Orlando Hernandez’s reelection. Juan Orlando Hernandez won the reelection as a Congressman but the National party lost the Presidency in 2005.
In 2009, President Zelaya was overthrown in a coup and Roberto Micheletti took command. Micheletti was from the Liberal Party which limited the National party’s power and they vowed to never lose an election again.
2009, Defendant’s partnership with Ardon – In 2009, the drug traffickers took steps to take over the Honduran government. The testimony from Ardon who was a mayor in El Paraiso, Copan told us that he was aligned closely with Pepe Lobo and Juan Orlando Hernandez of the National Party. The 2009 coup was great for them and made it more likely that the National party would win.
2009 Emergence of Los Cachiros - Another thing that changed around that time was that Los Cachiros were on the rise on the Atlantic coast and Ardon in Copan. Congressman Najera protected Los Cachiros and he was a good friend of the defendant. There were pictures of Najera with Juan Orlando Hernandez [campaign photos] and Tony Hernandez on the defendant’s phone [photos of Tony and Najera in a hot tub with others].
2009 bribes – To win the 2009 elections, several bribes were given. El Rojo gave $100,000, Rivera Maradiaga gave $500,000, and Ardon $2 million. These bribes were given to Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo and Juan Orlando Hernandez.
What were the results? Porfirio Lobo won the elections in 2010 and Juan Orlando Hernandez became the President of Congress. The National Party and drug traffickers now controlled the Presidency, the Congress, and “thats when state-sponsored drug trafficking truly started.”
Drug Quantity with Ardon – Ardon moved approximately 30-40 tons of cocaine.
2010- 2011: Helicopter Shipments – Wilter Blanco [drug trafficker] received helicopter shipments. The drugs were flown in the defendant’s helicopter. There is a photo of the defendant in helicopters. Around this time, between 280- 350 kilograms of cocaine were moved per month.
2010- 2012: Security and Transportation – Ardon and the defendant started working with El Chapo who started making payments for their protection. They began sending approximately 1000 kilograms a month. El Chapo was the leader of the Sinaloa cartel and it was dangerous in general to move drugs, so they needed protection.
2011: Two “Televisa” shipments – El Chapo used what looked like Televisa cars to move cocaine. Approximately 6 tons of cocaine were moved. El Chapo asked Ardon to help fill up the trucks and the defendant supplied drugs for the shipments. One of the shipments containing 1300 kilograms landed in Francia, Colon and was trafficked through Honduras to El Paraiso. Another one was 1600 kilograms.
2011: Murder of Franklin Arita – Ardon described Franklin Anita as not wanting drugs to run through Copan unless he was paid. Ardon goes to the defendant and they have Arita killed. The defendant knew how to do it. He asked the Honduran National Police and specifically asked “El Tigre” Bonilla, the police chief in Copan, to kill him.
2011- 2012: Maritime Shipments – the drug traffickers became sending maritime shipments because the helicopters could not carry enough cocaine at once. They started using boats that could carry between 700 and 1600 kilograms of cocaine monthly but they still used the defendant’s helicopters to transport the drugs from La Moskitia to the Guatemalan border.
2012: Choluteca Maritime Shipments – Mario Jose Calix began working with drugs in Choluteca along with Melvin Pinto, who was Ardon’s right-hand man. In the post-arrest video, the defendant let it slip that they use cattle trucks to transport the drugs.
2012 Extradition Agreement – Up until this point, drug shipments were happening but it wasn’t possible to prosecute drug traffickers in the United States until a change was made. The US applied political pressure to have the Honduran Constitution modified and it was changed shortly after a meeting with “Pepe” Lobo in Miami. The drug traffickers realized that they were more exposed and thought that it was possible for them to be extradited. The defendant said in response that “that's just for show” and insisted that they wouldn’t be extradited. The protection for the traffickers remained. This is the definition of state-sponsored drug trafficking. None of the defendant’s drug allies were extradited.
2012- 2013 Helicopter rentals – At this time, the defendant stopped selling drugs (and the drug traffickers got their own supply) but continued to let them use his helicopter. He provided pilots and information about law enforcement because the defendant obviously did not want to get caught trafficking drugs in his own helicopter. At this time, they transported 280-350 kilograms in his helicopters.
2013: Cash at the Defendant’s house – Rodriguez [a witness] said that there was drug money at the defendant’s house in Tegucigalpa.
2013 Bribes – In 2013, El Chapo gave $1 million and Ardon gave $1.6 million to the defendant and his brother, Juan Orlando Hernandez’s campaigns. Juan Orlando was running for President and the defendant was running for Congressman as a way to protect himself from extradition. In exchange, Tony Hernandez and Juan Orlando Hernandez said the drug traffickers would be protected from extradition. They spoke about this in two meetings in El Espiritu and in El Paraiso.
What were the results of those elections? Samuel Reyes was promoted to Minister of Defense because the defendant was his substitute. By bumping Reyes up to Minister, Tony Hernandez became a Congressman.
2013: El Chapo Partnership – In 2013, Ardon was cut out of the deals. Juan Orlando Hernandez was given a machine gun with his name engraved on it. This is the embodiment of state-sponsored drug trafficking.
WEAPONS TRAFFICKING AND VIOLENCE
2013 Murder of Chino – The defendant and others started to get worried that El Chino was beginning to cooperate with authorities. He was murdered in prison after being arrested.
2014 Denny’s meeting – In attendance at the meeting was Tony Hernandez, Rivera Maradiaga, Avila Meza (who was working with Los Cachiros), Oscar Ramirez aka ‘Alero’ who was the defendant’s contact, and Edgardo Perez. By that time, the defendant had just been elected to Congress in 2013. We know what was happening on that tape.
The defense tried to make it look like this meeting was for “legitimate business” but it was a meeting about front companies and money laundering. The defendant talks about getting a second company and tried to help them launder money.
“Hugo’s people” – the defendant says in the video captured on the watch camera that he will speak with “Hugo’s people.” Who is Hugo Ardon? He was part of the deal that the defendant made with Ardon promising to put his brother, Hugo Ardon in a government position once elected. Ardon controlled the highway institution in the Honduran government.
Agreement and payment – A payment was given and the defendant promised to get working on it as quickly as possible. Oscar Ramirez took the $50,000.
June 2016: TH kilos in SPS – This marks 10 years of TH cocaine in Honduras or the defendant supplying cocaine.
July 2016: Warning to Rodriguez – In July 2016, Rodriguez surrendered to the United States and he was given a warning from the defendant and Juan Orlando Hernandez. Mauricio Hernandez intimidated Rodriguez telling him to be careful mentioning Juan Orlando Hernandez and Tony Hernandez and their involvement in drug trafficking. They knew that Rodriguez knew a lot about police operations and checkpoints. The warning failed because Rodriguez came and testified in the US.
June 2018: Defendant Drug Ledger – The drug ledger noted that 650 kilos of drugs were moved in the “Nava” [a code word for the type of plan used to transport drugs] to Honduras. It was seized by police along with weapons and drugs. One man was arrested – Nery Orlando Rodriguez Sambria ‘Wilson’ who was mentioned by Leonel Rivera Maradiaga (Los Cachiros) and Rojo also referred to him in his testimonies as ‘Wilson’.
Nov 2018: Defendant Arrest – In the post-arrest interrogation video, the defendant makes reference to various drug traffickers and admits to knowing them. On the defendant’s phone are pictures of drug money and machine guns.
Nov 2018: Checking on Ardon – Mauricio Hernandez (“primo”) calls Ardon and tells him that the President of the country wants to know where you are. They were concerned that Ardon had been arrested but Ardon told them that he hadn’t gone to the United States. Ardon said that El Primo made him put someone else on the phone to check. Ardon would later surrender in 2019.
III. Charges
The judge will go through these with you but I’ll go through some of them as well.
COUNT ONE: A drug conspiracy in order to import cocaine into the United States. This is an agreement. There are three objectives or goals of such conspiracy and only one needs to be proven to be guilty on this count:
a. Import the cocaine into the United States
b. Distribute, manufacture, and possess knowing it would be imported to the US
c. Distribute, manufacture or possess using an aircraft registered in the US
Also something that has to be considered is a Special Interrogatory: Did the conspiracy involve 5 kilos of cocaine?
The defendant knowingly and intentionally joined in this conspiracy. He even accepted gifts from drug traffickers.
The members of the conspiracy were 1. Politicians, 2. Police, and 3. Distributors
The defendant admitted to the DEA that he had a relationship with the drug traffickers and took gifts from them.
The defendant joined the conspiracy and this is shown by the wiretap (of two males speaking and referring to TH cocaine) and through the drug ledger.
The defendant admitted in his post-arrest video that he knew the drugs were going to the United States
He made use of an aircraft registered in the United States and its not necessary to prove whether he knew that or not.
COUNT TWO: Weapons charge – Relates to whether defendant used weapons to traffic drugs, 2. Also if he possessed a weapon in furtherance of the crime. A Special Interrogatory must be considered: Whether the crime involved a machine gun or a destructive device.
The defense tried to argue that Honduras is dangerous and thus, one needs to protect themselves with a machine gun. But Honduras was dangerous because of defendant.
The evidence that we presented related to this charge includes:
The defendant’s weapons – there were a total of 3 pictures of machine guns on the defendant’s phones.
He had gun licenses on him. It does not matter whether the guns were licensed or not in Honduras. The defendant had gun licenses in the name of Orellana and Pineda when arrested as well.
The witness testimonies gave evidence that the defendant is linked to 5 machine guns: CZ Scorpian (the gun with JOH’s name engraved in it); SK; AR15; M16; and M60.
The defendant aided and abetted cocaine security teams, which has to do with causation. He participated in the crime in advance even when knowing that others would commit a crime. He had pictures on his phone of the police escorts.
COUNT THREE: Weapons conspiracy charge, which involves making an agreement between 2 or more people.
COUNT FOUR: Making false statements to federal agents
The two main lies that the defendant told were:
1. Never receiving money from drug traffickers
2. Not providing assistance to drug traffickers.
The defendant thought that he was untouchable when he came to the United States when he was arrested.
The prosecution asks for justice that is long awaited in Honduras.
Closing Remarks by the Defense (Attorney Michael Tein) (~2 hours, 15 minutes):
This is how its done:
Shock & awe
Because we said so
Mix-up/match-up
Rip out the page
“A big deal is no big deal”
Shock and awe is when the prosecution started by talking about 10,000s of cocaine and 8,000 doses and poison in our communities. This case is not about cocaine, its not about violence, its question about whether there is sufficient evidence for “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
You cannot get distracted ….