Honduras: Presidential Candidate Rodriguez-Orellana Is Arrested

On Thursday, Honduras’ Presidential candidate Santos Rodriguez-Orellana was arrested in Tegucigalpa for laundering money stolen from seizures to drug traffickers’ dealers when he served as Armed Forces captain. 

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"Upon a protected witness accused Rodriguez-Orellana of these crimes, we carried out a financial investigation and confirmed that the over US$100 million that the ex-captain and his family possess in national banks are not consistent with the income they have," the Communications Director at the Public Ministry Yuri Mora told the Associated Press. 

"We called Rodriguez-Orellana, his wife Jennifer Bonilla, and his mother-in-law Reina Bonilla on several occasions to justify their funds. However, they did not respond to our requests," Mora insisted.

Rodriguez-Orellana’s defendant lawyer Salomon Amador claimed that Reina Bonilla owns the biggest market in Tegucigalpa and has managed to "amass" a fair fortune for her family through her commercial activities.

After the arrest, Honduras' Technical Criminal Investigation Agency (TCCA) confiscated 15 real estates, seven commercial companies, and ten vehicles belonging to the Rodriguez-Bonilla family. The TCCA will transfer these assets to the Seize Property Management Office.

The U.S. justice also investigates Rodriguez-Orellana for his involvement in the murder of an informant to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Despite this, the former captain continues to deny all accusations against him.

"President Juan Orlando Hernandez is furious at me because I publicly denounced his brother Juan Antonio Hernandez’s connection to drug trafficking. Therefore, he has orchestrated this whole plot against me," Rodriguez-Orellana alleged