What Happened Today
- Government witness Alexander Ardon, confessed drug trafficking and former mayor of El Paraíso, Copan continued on the stand for most of the day being cross-examined then,
- Government witness Miguel Reynosa (pseudonym), a former Honduran detective of the National Directorate of the Fight Against Drug Trafficking (DNLC) began to testify.
Key Details That Surfaced
- Witness Ardon outlined the investments he made with the drug money he earned in Honduras. He purchased cattle ranches, houses, coffee plantations, vehicles, formed road construction companies, and “spent a lot of money on politics.”
- Juan Orlando Hernández’s (JOH) defense attorney, Raymond Colon stumbled through Ardon’s cross-examination, struggling to form clear, concise, non-repetitive questions before the judge impatiently interrupted him multiple times to set him straight. Colon’s cross-examination was messy but some details that surfaced include:
- Colon tried to elicit more information about a 2009 meeting in La Ceiba where allegedly, the son of President Manuel Zelaya was present. The brief mention of Zelaya’s son on day three caused a stir in Honduras, and attempts to delve into further details leading to any substantive or damning information failed in Colon’s renewed attempt in today’s cross examination.
- Colon tried to get Ardon to admit that he had invited himself over to JOH’s home in Tegucigalpa; and that he was mad at JOH for not allowing him to run in the 2013 election as mayor. Ardon denied these claims.
- Witness Miguel Reynoso, a former Honduran detective described how he and other investigators found the famous ‘narcolibretas’ or drug ledgers inside a seized car confiscated at a checkpoint in Honduras and allegedly belonging to drug trafficker, Magdaleno Meza. The prosecution showed four pages of the ledgers with JOH’s initials on them. On some of the pages, JOH’s name was written next to what seems like quantities of money.
What Will Happen on Monday
- Witness Reynosos will continue to be cross-examined by JOH’s defense.
- The prosecution will continue to call witnesses to the stand (and the order of the witnesses are unknown to the public).
