Hondurans await results in primary elections
(AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)TEGUCIGALPA โ Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernรกndezโs name keeps popping up in the New York trial of an alleged drug trafficker. And one of the candidates running to replace him in Sundayโs primary elections has been convicted in the same court of laundering money for the same cartel. Polls closed at 5 p.m. and the vote count had begun, but there was no immediate word on when results would be available. Political analyst and three-time former presidential candidate Olban Valladares said the elections are an opportunity for Hondurans to begin to free themselves of failed leaders. But voters will also choose the candidates who will compete for the 128 seats of the National Congress in November, as well as 298 local governments and other positions.
Drug trafficker says he bribed Honduras president
FILE - In this Jan. 14, 2020, file photo, Honduras' President Juan Orlando Hernandez arrives for the swearing-in ceremony for Guatemala's new President Alejandro Giammattei at the National Theater in Guatemala City. AdThe accusation came in the third day of testimony in the trial of alleged drug trafficker Geovanny Fuentes Ramรญrez. U.S. prosecutors have made it clear that allegations against President Hernรกndez would arise during the trial, though he has not been charged. During that trial, the president was accused of accepting more than $1 million from Mexican drug trafficker Joaquรญn โEl Chapoโ Guzmรกn. Alvarez said that he had never taken money from Rivera Maradiaga, who called the politicians he allegedly bribed โnarco-politicians.โAdโI donโt have anything to hide,โ Alvarez wrote.