In New York, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was found guilty of cocaine trafficking after a two-week trial. Federal prosecutors had accused Hernández of ruling the Central American country as a narco-state, accepting millions of dollars in bribes from drug traffickers in exchange for protection. Celebrations erupted following Friday’s verdict. This is a Honduran activist speaking outside Manhattan’s federal courthouse.

Lida Perdomo: “The rotten political class we have has brought the country to total collapse. And everyone we see here, this entire community thirsting for justice, is a clear example of a society in total collapse that has been trampled on and sunk by corrupt politicians.”

Hernández was arrested in February 2022, less than a month after his presidential term ended, and extradited to the U.S. in April of 2022. He was a longtime U.S. ally. His brother is already serving a life sentence in the U.S for smuggling cocaine. Juan Orlando Hernández faces life in prison, as well. We’ll have more on the trial later in the show.