Hondurans demand president's resignation after drug verdict

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Opposition groups called for more protests Saturday to demand that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández be removed from office after his younger brother was convicted of drug trafficking by a court in New York.

Thousands of Hondurans demonstrated into the early hours after Friday's conviction of Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández in what U.S. prosecutors described as a conspiracy based on “state-sponsored drug trafficking.”

Protesters blocked main roads in half of the country's 18 provinces, setting barricades on fire, while some took advantage of the unrest to loot stores. Police reported no arrests and urged protesters to express their concerns “peacefully, without violating the rights of others.”

President Hernández insisted on Twitter that the verdict was not against the state of Honduras, saying his government had fought against drug trafficking. On Saturday, he attended a parade honoring the country's armed forces and posted photos on Twitter of himself smiling alongside the U.S. charge d'affaires in Honduras, Colleen Hoey.

With Hoey at the parade, Hernández said he discussed ways to strengthen ties between the two countries while combating drug trafficking and organized crime.

The president accused Honduran drug traffickers extradited to the United States of retaliating against his family by claiming his younger brother was a government-aided drug trafficker.

Hernández assumed a second four-year term as president in January 2018, despite a constitutional ban on re-election.

The United Opposition Coalition Against Dictatorship has called for daily nationwide protests that will begin Monday and last until Hernández is removed from power.

Convicted drug traffickers claimed in the U.S. trial against his brother that they contributed to Hernández's two presidential campaigns by promising he would protect their businesses and themselves during his term.

The son of the former president of Honduras, Porfirio Lobo, admitted in 2017 to being part of a cocaine trafficking network and was sentenced to 24 years in prison in the United States.