Borgund Stave Church, Norway built in 1180 and said to be oldest wood church still in use Borgund Stave Church, Norway built in 1180 and said to be oldest wood church still in use“BUilt around 1180 and dedicated to the Apostle Andrew. The church is exceptionally well preserved and is the most distinctive stave church in Norway.
The excellent wood building techniques and wood carving traditions of the Vikings, used in the construction of ships and houses, were further developed and are often seen in stave churches.”
In The US, Juan Orlando Hernández, Former President Of Honduras, Is Found Guilty Of Drug Trafficking
Translated excerpt:
After almost two days of deliberations, a jury of the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York, found guilty, on March 8, 2023, Juan Orlando Hernández Alvarado -president of Honduras, in a first term of office that began on the 27th. January 2014 and ended on January 27, 2018, the date on which his second period began, which ended on January 27, 2022, on three charges related to drug trafficking.
Q. Kevin Castel, the judge who presided over the trial against Hernández Alvarado - which lasted almost two weeks - received a note from the jury informing them that they had reached a unanimous verdict against the Honduran president.
The US Department of Justice filed three charges against the former Honduran president: conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, conspiracy to possess firearms and destructive devices for drug trafficking, and possession of this type of weapon during the conspiracy of drug trafficking.
Hernández Alvarado could be sentenced to a maximum of life in prison for each of the charges. However, the former Honduran president rejected all charges and appeared during the trial as part of his defense.
The former Honduran president - 55 years old - was accused of conspiring with his Army and the Police of the Central American country to allow up to 500 tons of cocaine to enter the United States without obstacles.
As narrated by various international agencies, flanked by his lawyers, moments before the judge called the parties to hear the ruling, Hernández Alvarado. Afterwards, the verdict followed, shaking his head in disbelief, as the jury spokesman answered each of the questions that Castel asked, to establish the guilt of the former Honduran president.
“I am innocent, tell the world, I love you,” said Hernández Alvarado, upon leaving the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York, addressing his relatives, including two sisters-in-law, and the three generals who came to testify in his favor during the trial.
Hernández Alvarado was arrested at his home in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, three months after leaving office, on January 27, 2022, and extradited to the United States in April of that same year.
Before the jury began deliberating, on March 7, 2023, Judge Castel explained to the 12 jurors what each charge meant and emphasized that the possible sentence that Hernández Alvarado could receive should not be considered in the discussions.
The former Honduran president took the stand on March 5, 2024 and denied the accusations against him. In his account, he stated that it was he who told his brother, former deputy Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández Alvarado, to appear before the US authorities, who sentenced him in March 2021 to life imprisonment.
The former president’s lawyers asked him about the alleged meetings and agreements with drug traffickers, but Hernández Alvarado stated that he did not promise protection to drug traffickers and denied having met with most of the members of the Los Cachiros or Los Valle cartels.
However, Hernández Alvarado acknowledged during his trial testimony that drug trafficking money was paid to virtually all political parties in Honduras, but he himself denied having accepted bribes.
The former Honduran president indicated that he had visited the White House in Washington D.C. and had met with American presidents, and, according to him, had collaborated in the war on drugs and worked with Washington to stop the flow of drugs to the United States.
A witness assured that the brother of the former Honduran president agreed with Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo” - then leader of the Sinaloa Cartel -, protection for a trafficking route if Hernández Alvarado was elected
However, the former president of Honduras denied having received a million dollars from “El Chapo” and the Sinaloa Cartel. He also added that he never met the Mexican drug trafficker, nor any member of his criminal organization.
The former president also testified that it was he who asked the Honduran Public Ministry to investigate his brother. Later, he testified, he urged “Tony” to appear before US authorities.
However, when asked if they were close, the former Honduran president highlighted the age difference with his younger brother. “We were more than 10 years apart, I left home at 13 to study,” he said.
On February 7, 2022, the US State Department publicly revealed that it had imposed restrictions on Hernández Alvarado’s visa to enter that country, as part of a list of officials suspected of corruption or undermining democracy in the country of Central America.
Then, the former president of Honduras wrote an open letter, in which he said that he found out about the decision of the United States Government through the media and social networks. Furthermore, he pointed out that his Administration bravely confronted organized crime in all its forms.
The former president of the Central American country also indicated that during his government the transit of drugs through Honduras was reduced by 83 percent, going from 87 percent before he took office in 2013, to only 4 percent in the 2020.
Hernández Alvarado emphasized that he was surprised that the decision, according to him, was based on media reports, as well as statements from drug traffickers and confessed murderers who were extradited by their Government or had to flee and surrender to US authorities.
United States Senator Bob Menéndez, president of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asked the Government of President Joseph Biden in early February 2022 to revoke Hernández Alvarado’s visa and designate him as a “major foreign narcotics trafficker.” , under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin), making it illegal for US companies and individuals to do business with him.
On March 30, 2021, federal judge Kevin Castel, of the Southern District Court of New York, sentenced former deputy Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández Alvarado - brother of the then president of Honduras, to life in prison, plus 30 years, for drug trafficking crimes and receiving millions of dollars in bribes received from organized crime.
“Based on Tony Hernandez’s free choice to engage in a life of drug trafficking for 12 years, a sentence of life in prison is richly deserved,” stated Federal Judge Kevin Castel.
The prosecutors in the case requested a life sentence for “Tony” for leading “a criminal drug trafficking association sponsored by the Honduran State,” along with the president of Honduras. They also wanted the brother of the Honduran president to return $138.5 million of “blood money,” the product of his drug trafficking operations, and pay an additional fine of $10 million......
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Does trying former leaders of countries make foreign relations sketchy with former political leaders now under threat of indictment in other countries, aka tit for tat? Arrogance by the DOJ selectively picking politicians to indict. Almost all Central and South American countries, along with Mexico, have the reputation as being run by corrupt politicians. Corrupt by US standards. Is this a case of selective prosecution of foreign politicians who don’t tow the deep state US line? The fallout, if any, from this will be of interest.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4223017/posts?page=1
United flight makes emergency landing at LAX after suspected hydraulic failure
ABC7 ^ | 3.8.2024 | Shayla Giardin
(third one in 3 days)
