New York, February 7 (RHC)-- In the United States, the former head of Honduras’s National Police pleaded guilty Tuesday to cocaine trafficking charges.  Juan Carlos “El Tigre” Bonilla appeared in a New York City court just days before he was scheduled to go on trial with former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández. 

Speculation is growing that Bonilla will now testify against Hernández. The two were extradited to the United States in 2022.  

Hernández was arrested in February 2022, less than a month after his presidential term ended.  He was a longtime U.S. ally who received backing during his entire eight-year term despite mounting reports of serious human rights violations and accusations of corruption and involvement with drug smuggling. 

His brother Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández is currently serving a life prison sentence in the U.S. after being convicted in 2019 of smuggling cocaine.