In Other Media-eg New Statesman, AJE, FP, Georgia, NYT,  Azerbaijan, CSM Click here to contact us     .

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon, Thread Video
Honduras - The Source - The Root - etc

SDNY COURTHOUSE, July 24– During the trial that convicted Tony Hernandez, the brother of Honduras' president Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH), on all four counts of guns and narcotics trafficking and false statements, the Honduran National Police came up again and again in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

  On June 29 SDNY Judge P. Kevin Castel held a bond hearing on Otto Rene Salguero Morales. Inner City Press live tweeted it, now here.

  Now on September 10, Judge Castel has granted the request for another adjournment of Tony Hernandez' sentencing, this time from Septmeber 16 to November 10 at 11 a.m.. Tony Hernandez' new taxpayer-funded lawyer said he has been unable to meet with him in person and to complete his sentencing submission. Inner City Press will stay on the case. Justice delayed can be justice denied.

  On July 11 Ronald Salguero's new lawyer Bonnie Klapper filed a supplement to his bond application which for some reason was previously under seal. Both documents on Patreon here.

  On July 24 Klapper postponed requesting discovery to leave open the opportunity to become a cooperating witness, but sought bail. It was denied. Inner City Press live tweeted it, here

Judge Castel: How do you plead to the S5 indictment?

Defense lawyer Klapper: Not guilty.

Judge Castel: What about discovery?

 Defense lawyer: I don't want to lose the opportunity for my client to cooperate. I have reviewed the transcripts of the Tony Hernandez trial...

 Defense lawyer: I see in the Tony Hernandez transcript that my client is mentioned. I would like to meet with my client but have not been able to, yet.

 Judge Castel: I am flexible, but the public has the right to a speedy trial. [Ronald Salguero's "new" lawyer is former prosecutor Bonnie Klapper, replacing Robert Feitel.]

Judge Castel: You're going to make a bail application? Klapper: Yes.

 Ronald Salguero's attorney Klapper: If Mr Salguero was going to flee, he would not have turned himself in to the US. Any crimes he took part in took place overseas. He might be a danger there - but not here. He's a different person. He's not a street level dealer

 Klapper: I'd like him released on home confinement, and for the US to seek a deferred action from ICE. [Inner City Press: narco trafficker Ronald Salguero ... DACA?]

 Judge Castel: My finding is that the defendant is a citizen of Guatemala, he has traveled to Nicaragua. There is an immigration detainer, which is irrelevant to my decision. He has traveled legally and illegally into this country. He has few ties to the US

 Judge Castel: His niece Carla Fajarda (sp) knows little of his travel history in and out of this country. She met him in Guatemala, but knows nothing about his family there, or his employment history, or mental health or substance abuse. She has no moral suasion

Judge Castel: He faces a mandatory minimum of 40 years, up to life, for importing cocaine and machine guns. I find that no combination of condition can reasonably assure the attendance of defendant at future proceedings. The application is denied.

 Klapper (to Ronald Salguero): Ententiste lo que el juez dijo? Si.
Judge Castel: We are adjourned

 On June 3, two days before Tony Hernandez' already postponed sentencing set for June 5, his new lawyer asked for another extension to July 6 - and says that probably won't be enough: "Re: United States v. Juan Antonio Hernandez Alvarado 15 Cr. 379 Dear Judge Castel: I represent Mr. Hernandez Alvarado. I write to request that Mr. Hernandez Alvarado’s sentencing, currently scheduled for June 5, be adjourned for at least a month."

  Now on June 4 Judge Castel has postponed the sentencing until September 16: "MEMO ENDORSEMENT as to Juan Antonio Hernandez Alvarado (2) on [161] LETTER MOTION addressed to Judge P. Kevin Castel from Peter E. Brill dated June 3, 2020 re: Request to Continue Sentencing. ENDORSEMENT: Sentencing is adjourned until September 16, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. (Signed by Judge P. Kevin Castel)." Justice delayed is justice denied. Inner City Press will stay on the case.

On May 27 it emerged that co-defendant Mauricio Hernandez Pineda has another free / taxpayer paid Criminal Justice Act lawyer: "NOTICE OF ATTORNEY APPEARANCE: Jennifer Rushing Louis-Jeune appearing for Mauricio Hernandez Pineda. Appearance Type: CJA Appointment." Where did all his money go?

  This while still-free President Juan Orlando Hernandez, implicated in the case, is now promoting hydroxychloroquine as countering Covid-19, and seeks $340 million from the IMF, here.

  Also during Tony Hernandez' trial, the drug ledgers of one Nery Orlando López Sanabria a/k/a Magdaleno were used by the SDNY prosecutors.

  Here is an Inner City Press tweeted photo of notebook mentioning "JOH," in Spanish. Inner City Press has repeated asked the United Nations, in New York and Geneva, for comment. Dead silence.

A week after the Tony Hernandez verdict, Magdaleno was murdered in a supposedly maximum security prison in Santa Barbara, Honduras.

  The video are very troubling [WARNING] including the guards letting the killers in, here.

   On October 27 a publication in Honduras said the UN office of human rights has said nothing. But nothing had been emailed out to its press list, and nothing could be found on its website in Geneva - it turns out news it doesn't want anyone or at least not the drug funded dictators it answers to see it, it puts on obscure sub-sites, see below.

At 9 am on October 28 Geneva time Inner City Press in writing asked UN "High Commissioner for Human Rights" Michelle Bachelet and her spokesman Rupert Colville this: "Hello, this is a Press request for OHCHR / Bachelet comment on the murder, on video, in Honduras of 'Magdeleno' whose drug trafficking notebook were used in recent SDNY conviction of Presidential brother Tony Hernandez, a trial Inner City Press covered every day. See video of killing here.

   More on Patreon here.

  Inner City Press which covered the trial daily has asked the UN for the comment of SG Antonio Guterres who met with JOH in September 2019 and did not even mention corruption, much less drug trafficking.

 On October 26 after the murder and release of the video, Inner City Press went to (try to) pose the question to Guterres. The response? Video here. Three UN security vehicles, and even a publicly funded NYPD detective, "protecting" Guterres who already wastes untold public funds on security. Disgusting. A protest has been called for, and is needed - @InnerCityPress response here.  More on Patreon here.

Inner City Press on October 18 asked the defendant's lawyer Omar Malone about this client's post arrest statement, the admitted murders by the cooperating witnesses, and upcoming sentencing submission. Video and answers here.

    Here was the post arrest statement as initially put in to the jury, as uploaded to YouTube by Inner City Press, here. The case is US v. Diaz Morales, 15-cr-00379 (Castel).