Anti-drug crusader or cartel secret weapon? Honduras ex-president's trial kicks off

FILE PHOTO: Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez sits with his lawyers in front of U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel as he appears on U.S. drug trafficking charges at the start of his trial in a courthouse in New York, U.S., February 20, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York jury on Wednesday heard clashing descriptions of former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez as his U.S. drugs trial opened, with prosecutors saying traffickers fueled his rise to power and the defense countering that witnesses were framing him as revenge for his crackdown on cartels.

Despite his tough public stance on drugs and cooperation with the United States while in office from 2014 to 2022, prosecutor David Robles said Hernandez, 55, was actually working "hand in hand" with traffickers who paid him millions of dollars in bribes to help send tons of cocaine to the U.S.