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Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is suspected of having links with drug traffickers. REUTERS

Juan Orlando Hernandez, president of Honduras, has been in Washington since Monday, August 12th. He is attending a meeting of the Inter-American Drug Control Commission. A visit comes as the Honduran head of state is himself accused in the United States of having links with drug traffickers.

Ten days ago, a New York justice document accused the Honduran government of functioning as a narco-state. In question, the links of the last three presidents, including the current, Juan Orlando Hernandez , with cocaine traffickers who allegedly financed his election campaign in 2013.

A submarine to introduce cocaine

This information comes from the pre-trial documents of Tony Hernandez, the brother of the Honduran president, to be tried in September in New York. He is charged with introducing thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the United States, including using a submarine.

These revelations provoked several days of demonstration in Honduras. Thousands of people were demanding the departure of the president, whose re-election in 2017 was tainted by suspicions of fraud.

" Dismantling all cartels "

In a statement announcing the reason for his trip to Washington, Juan Orlando Hernandez, until now a close ally of the United States, stressed that his commitment in the fight against drug trafficking, would have allowed " the dismantling of all the cartels drug traffickers ".

But on Monday, the national commission for human rights announced that 7,400 Hondurans had had to leave their homes since 2016, precisely because of violence related to drug trafficking.