Federal prosecutors in New York have charged the brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández with drug trafficking, saying Monday that he moved tons of U.S.-bound cocaine through Central America for more than a decade. Juan Antonio Hernández, 40, was arrested in Miami on Friday, but U.S. authorities did not reveal details on the case until Monday. Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, described him as a “large-scale drug trafficker” involved in all aspects of the trade— including allegedly bribing law-enforcement officials to safeguard the transportation of illicit goods. Prosecutors say he even had his own brand of cocaine, with laboratories in Colombia and Honduras said to stamp his initials on the products. Berman also said Hernández, who once served in the Honduran congress, assured government contracts for money-laundering front companies. President Hernández confirmed his brother’s arrest in Miami on Friday.
