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, Oct 28 – 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 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.

  Now a week after the verdict, Magdaleno has been 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.

  UNSG Antonio Guterres refused all Press questions about Honduras during the trial and in the nine days since the verdict. Now 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.

So at 9 am Monday 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.

   Specifically, it appears that the guards open the doors to the killer, who somehow had a gun inside a maximum security prison. The decedent had asked to be moved.

    Inner City Press while reporting on all this while banned from any entry of the UN for over 480 days is asking your Office because of reports in Honduras that your Office somehow, somewhere spoke on this - if so, where, and why was Inner City Press not sent the information given that it covers this issue and has submitted dozens of questions on it to SG Guterres, USG Melissa Fleming and Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, with no answer at all despite UN's statement to Special Rapporteur David Kaye that Inner City Press' written questions were being and would be answered, here. And see here.    Since Inner City Press and I have been excluded from OHCHR events in the UN by this no due process ban, please also explain why Commissioner Bachelet has said and done nothing about the UN Press ban, despite it being raised to her from Day 1 of her Administration.  On deadline,  Matthew Russell Lee, Esq., Inner City Press Past (and future?) Office at UN: Room S-303, UN HQ, NY NY 10017."

   Five hours later, nothing. So did Bachelet, who is rarely at work, speak? Even if Bachelet and Colville belated respond, this is classic Guterres: prop up an abusive ruler then have a lower profile part of the UN mouth concern. Except here, it's not even clear that has happened. Impeachment needed.

Associated Press in Tegucigalpa produced a short story which does not mention that the video show the guard opening that red metal door, instead saying "Prison officials said Nery López Sanabria, also known as Magdaleno Meza Fúnez, was ambushed by other inmates in El Pozo prison on Saturday. His lawyer, Carlos Chajtur, blamed the Honduran government.  He was the alleged business partner of ex-congressman Antonio "Tony" Hernández, the president's younger brother, who was found guilty of drug trafficking in a New York jail earlier in October.   Nearly a dozen notebooks belonging to López Sanabria appeared as evidence in the trial." Ambush, yes - but facilitated by the authorities. We'll have more on this.

Speculation is that he was killed so as to not produce further evidence against President Juan Orlando Hernandez. Protesters calling for his resignation after the verdict have been tear gassed.  So what will the Office of US Attorney Geoffrey Berman and the wider US Justice Department do? 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.

  This is all the more the case given the spotting of "UN" vehicles carrying JOH's soldiers near Tegucigalpa here. Inner City Press has noted that the UN uses JOH's troops in Western Sahara.

Nor has Guterres and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric responded to request they belatedly release the report produce the report of the panel Guterres sent to Honduras to in essence back up JOH: Marcie Mersky, Ana Catalina Soberanis, Mirna Cuenta and Javier Cabreja about which Inner City Press asked at the 8 Feb 2018 noon briefing before it was roughed up and banned from the UN, 480 days now. We'll have more on this.

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.

 The trial began with a bang on October 2 with the charge that already life imprisoned El Chapo Guzman gave the defendant $1 million for this brother, the president. On October 7, cooperating witness and former mayor Alexander Ardon described the meeting, with both El Chapo Guzman and Tony Hernandez present and the cash in plastic bags, see thread and see below.

The trial was before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge P. Kevin Castel and Inner City Press was live tweeting it. See also Patreon here on the fast mention and shut-down of Nikki Haley's name.

    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).