Washington, United States
The US is ready to work with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, he said Joan Gonzalezz, President Joe Biden’s top adviser for Latin America, following allegations linking the president to drug trafficking.
“He is currently the president-elect of Honduras, we will work with his government, we will look for areas of common interest,” Gonzalez said in an interview with CNN in Spanish on Sunday. if the head of state is a “valid interlocutor” for Washington.
The presidential adviser pointed out that the U.S. Department of Justice “works independently” and clarified that since the Executive cannot “direct what they can and cannot do.”
“We have to work with governments, but not just with governments, obviously the Honduran chancellor (Lisandro Rosales) was here this week, Ricardo (Zúñiga, the Washington special envoy for the North Central American Triangle) and I will meet with him, look for areas of joint work, “he added.
Gonzalez’s statement contradicted a statement by State Department spokesman Ned Price who on March 9 warned that Washington cannot have close ties with non-corruption leaders in response to a asks about the implications of the charges against Hernandez.
The official also referred to El Salvador and acknowledged that its president, Nayib Bukele, has managed to lower the rate of insecurity in the country, which, he considered, “has had an impact on immigration.”
However, the ruler refuted the argument “that one can bring down insecurity at all costs”.
“Frankly we do not agree. We think that any government policy must respect the institutions, it must respect the freedom of the media to criticize one,” said the official, referring to, among others, to Bukele’s decision to break into Parliament accompanied by members of the Army and Police to press for the approval of a loan for his fight against the gangs. EFE