New Honduran Police Chief Collaborated with Drug Cartel: Report

According to a confidential government security report obtained by the Associated Press, newly elected national police chief Jose David Aguilar helped a drug cartel to deliver nearly one ton of cocaine, packed inside a tanker truck, in 2013. According to the report the tanker was escorted by police officers to convicted drug trafficker Wilter Blanco's house.

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Aguilar was serving as chief of intelligence for Honduras’ National Police at that time. The report by the Honduran Security Ministry’s Inspector General states Aguilar's participation came after a police official safeguarding the drugs was busted and the tanker seized. After receiving a call from the busted cop, Aguilar allegedly ordered the release of the officer and the truck.

“We are in a process of transforming the National Police, with a huge investment of financial resources,” Honduras's president said as he swore in the new chief; a claim overshadowed by news on the report.

The Honduran government has denied the veracity of the report, but former and current police officers have confirmed Aguilar's involvement in the 2013 case. Furthermore the Associated Press "confirmed the story using other internal memos and a page from Aguilar’s personnel file summarizing his alleged participation."

Police cover-ups and complicity with drug cartels in Honduras are widespread, while Honduras security forces have been linked to human rights abuses for over a decade. In the past two months, security forces have shot and killed at least a dozen demonstrators protesting an alleged electoral fraud by President Juan Orlando Hernandez. The United Nations has called on the government to respect the international humanitarian law when policing demonstration and to avoid the use of military police.  

According to the AP, at least six former Honduran National Police officers are facing the U.S.