NEW YORK (AP) — A convicted Honduran drug trafficker and former leader of a cartel has testified in United States federal court that he paid now President Juan Orlando Hernández $250,000 for protection from arrest in 2012. Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga testified Thursday that he made the payment in cash through Hernández’s sister, Hilda Hernández, in exchange “for protection so that the military police and preventive police didn’t capture us in Honduras.” At the time of the alleged bribe, Juan Orlando Hernández was leader of Honduras’ Congress. The president has repeatedly denied such allegations, saying traffickers are lying to protect themselves.
