Hot of the press, School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) latest publication.
On March 8, 2024, the former President of Honduras and U.S. ally, Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH), was convicted on international drug trafficking and weapons charges in the Southern District of New York. He is the first former head of state to be convicted on drug charges in the U.S. since Panamanian dictator and School of the Americas (SOA) graduate, Manuel Noriega, thirty-two years ago.
Hernández's conviction has exposed a complex web of U.S. intervention and corruption in Central America, implicating the U.S. administration, the State Department, and various other agencies of the U.S. government. The involvement of U.S. tax dollars, government officials, and foreign investments that supported Hernández has led to numerous lives lost, the destabilization of Honduras, and has revealed the true cost of U.S. intervention.
SOAW latest publication, "The People's Indictment of the U.S. Government in the Making of a Narco-State in Post-2009 Coup Honduras," unravels this intricate narrative. It critically examines the U.S. Government's involvement in fostering a regime that undermined Honduran democracy and sovereignty, paving a dark path toward the creation of a narco-state under JOH's rule.
This indictment, born out of collaboration with research apprentices at the Critical Perspectives on Democracy + Media Lab at the University of California, Berkeley and inspired by the historical memory work of SOA Watch, serves as a cornerstone of our ongoing collaborative popular education efforts.
As we disseminate this crucial analysis, we stand with our partners in the Honduras Solidarity Network / Honduras Now in demanding:
- The declassification of documents shedding light on the full extent of U.S. involvement in Honduras since the 2009 coup and revealing the underpinnings of a narco-state facilitated by foreign complicity.
- Congressional investigations into the role that U.S. support has played in the post-coup era, particularly in relation to elections in Honduras, and human rights violations committed with impunity by Honduran state security forces trained, funded, and armed by Northamerican entities.
JOH’s watershed conviction beckons a broader contemplation on the U.S. Government's accountability in the erosion of democracy, sovereignty, and civil liberties in Honduras.
