In photos: Tony Hernandez and the drug war in Honduras

Former congressman Tony Hernández, a brother of the president of Honduras, was involved in drug trafficking since early 2004, according to New York prosecutors. He never faced charges in Honduras despite growing evidence collected by Honduran officials, according to multiple law enforcemnt sources who spoke with Univision. In the end, it was left to the DEA to intervene and take charge of investigating the alleged traffickers, such as Tony Hernandez, who was finally arrested in Miami last November.

Por:Univision

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Tony Hernandez in an archive photo.

Courtesy of La Prensa

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Some of the evidence against Hernandez includes weapons and cocaine stamped with his initials, 'TH.'

Court records.

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Trial exhibit #203-R4 in Tony Hernandez drug trafficking case in New York: a weapon allegedly carried by the president's brother, embossed with Honduran flag and name of his brother, president Juan Orlando Hernandez, according to prosecutors. “This picture from the defendant’s phone is the embodiment of state-sponsored drug trafficking," said U.S. Assistant Attorney, Emil Bove.

Southern Distirct of New York/David Maris/Univision

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Some of the evidence against Hernandez includes these weapons and cocaine stamped with his initials, 'TH.'

Court records

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On January 31, 2014, a drug laboratory was raided in the small mountainous village of Iguala in the western province of Lempira. A special police investigation unit arrested two Colombians, seized several weapons and 6,000 marijuana and heroin plants. Two months later, Colombians were released.

Courtesy of the Honduran National Police.

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General Leandro Osorio, 55, was head of the special investigations unit of the Honduran police (DNIC) from 2012-2015.

David Adams / Univision

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Juan Antonio 'Tony' Hernandez (Archive photo)

AP

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In 2012, the United States and Honduras created special units to combat kidnapping and extortion, as well as a Special Tactical Operations Group (GOET) backed by the FBI with sophisticated eavesdropping technology to listen to phone calls. They prepared an action plan, entitled: "Operational Plan for 2013 of verified police units supported by the government of the United States of America."

Univision

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The former head of the Honduran National Police, General Juan Carlos Bonilla, told Univisión that the role of the United States was key in the fight against drug trafficking in Honduras. Bonilla, also known as 'The Tiger,' said the DEA was given access to Honduran police and intelligence archives, including all previously covered-up reports of suspected traffickers and their political friends.

David Adams

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On October 8, 2012, the United States and Honduras signed a secret agreement to create 'Sensitive Investigative Unit" program', or SIU in Honduras. The program allows the DEA to vet and train local police and military personnel for use in operations focused on drug traffickers and cartels.

Univision

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A clandestine airstrip used by drug traffickers in the department of Gracias a Dios, in eastern Honduras.

FUSINA (National Interagency Security Force)

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An alleged drug trafficking helicopter seized in the Mosquitia region of Honduras in 2014.

Univision Investiga

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Former Honduran army captain, Santos Rodríguez Orellana, participated in the anti-drug missions. He was suspended from the armed forces and then disgracedly discharged after being involved in the 2014 seizure of a helicopter linked to Tony Hernandez.

Marvin Valladares/Univision

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One of four explosions during a Honduran military operation to disable a clandestine airstrip in eastern Honduras, creating craters 10 meters wide and 5 meters deep. May 15, 2019.

FUSINA (National Interagency Security Force)

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The Honduran Armed Forces disabled a clandestine airstrip with explosives on May 15, 2019, in the Brus Laguna region of Gracias a Dios, eastern Honduras. But officials told Univision the runways were often quickly repaired in a matter of days by teams of men armed with chainsaws and baskets of dirt to fill in the craters. Honduran officers said they were offered $150,000 to look the other way.

FUSINA (National Interinstitutional Security Force)

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A clandestine airstrip in the department of Gracias a Dios, in eastern Honduras.

FUSINA (National Inter Agency Security Force)

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Western Honduras is a remote border area with Guatemala and El Salvador.

Mauricio Rodriguez-Pons/Univision

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Alexander Ardon, the former Honduran mayor of El Paraíso, a cattle town in the department of Copan, will be a key witness in the case of drug trafficking against President Hernández's brother.

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Nery Orlando Lopez Sanabria was captured in June 2018 in Honduras with drug ledgers that implicated Tony Hernandez. At the time of his arrest, Lopez was believed to be one of the largest drug traffickers in Honduras. He was murdered in a maximum security prison in Honduras, October 26, 2019.

Courtesy of La Prensa.

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After his arrest at Miami airport in November 20188, Tony Hernandez sat down for an "interview" with DEA agent Sandalio Gonzalez. He made a number of self-incriminating statement about his relationship with several notorious drug traffickers that were used against him at trial.

Southern District of New York/Univision

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Mauricio Pineda Hernandez, is a former deputy-commissioner of the Honduran National Police who was stationed in western Honduras.

Southern District of New York evidence files.

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Devis Leonel Maradiaga Rivera, a former leader of the infamous 'Los Cachiros' crime family who began cooperating with the DEA in 2013 and has confessed to conspiring to kill at least 78 people. Maradiaga Rivera met with Tony Hernandez at a Denny's restaurant in February 2014 allegedly to discuss money owed to one of the family’s front companies by the government.

Univision

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Hector Emilio Fernandez, alias 'Don H,' was arrested in Honduras in October 2014, and extradited to the United States in September 2015. He plead guilty to trafficking 135 tons of cocaine and large quantities of methamphetamine over the course of 17 years and was sentenced to life in prison in August. Tony Hernandez admitted to the DEA that he had mert eith Don H, although he did not disclose why. Don H admitted to paying millions of dollars in bribes to Honduran officials, including former president Mel Zelaya.

Courtesy of La Prensa.

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Victor Hugo Diaz Morales, alias El Rojo, confessed to trafficking at least 150 tons of cocaine with Tony Hernandez and conspiring to murder at least 18 people. Hernandez admitted during a post-arrest interview with the DEA to having had a “good friendship” with Diaz Morales, having received gifts from him as well as knowing that he was a drug trafficker.

Courtesy of El Periodico, Guatemala.

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Mario Jose Calix, alias 'Cubeta' (Bucket), was born and raised in 'Tony' Hernandez's home town of Gracias, Lempira where he was vice-mayor from 2010 to 2014. His family owns an attractive local hotel, Finca del Capitan (The Captain's Farm). According to a DEA interview with Tony Hernandez, it was an open secret that Calix was a drug trafficker. He was indicted of drug trafficking charges by the Southern District of New York on January 23 2019, and is a co-defendant in the Hernandez case.

Univision

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In his DEA interview, Tony Hernandez described attending meetings at Finca del Capitán, a hotel in Gracias owned by the family of accused drug trafficker Mario Jose Calix, alias 'Cubeta.' "We'd drink. They would bring in girls. Jeez, they have never been short in the girls department," he said. "As a matter of fact, some girl friends of mine went there, and ... hell! I felt terrible they were going to be passed around all of them. But, it was their lives ... one couldn’t say anything."

Marvin Valladares/Univision

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The Posada Don Juan in the town on Gracias in western Honduras, is owned by the family of president Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Univision

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The Hernandez family run an attractive hotel in Gracias, 'La Posada de Don Juan', where they sell their own his altitude coffee named after a local hot spring, 'Termas del Rio'.