THE DRUG CARTEL KINGPINS NEXT DOOR?
The Biden administration wanted to make an example of a pro-Trump Honduran President and cut deals with the devil to make it happen.
The central American nation of Honduras is a critical choke point for stopping the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, but much of the progress that occurred during the first Trump administration clamping down on the drug trade in Honduras was abruptly reversed through a corrupt alliance between Biden’s State Department, a far-left socialist regime in Honduras and ruthless narco traffickers happy to exploit federal corruption.
Stone Cold Truth has reported about former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH), a close ally of President Trump, and his extradition to the U.S. for alleged drug crimes after the popular leader was termed out of office in 2022. JOH was extradited through collusion between his successor, extreme leftist President Xiomara Castro, and Biden Secretary of State Merrick Garland.
The Biden administration was ultimately successful in removing a conservative Trump ally from power in Central America, but JOH’s ouster came at a steep cost. Castro has set her sights on turning Honduras into Venezuela 2.0, cozying up to Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, and waging war against private investment in the impoverished nation. The Biden deep state also cut deals with drug kingpins, letting them out of prison and into the American streets after they provided the testimony needed to ensure JOH’s conviction.
Some of the world’s most violent murderers running the drug trade in Honduras, including the leader of the infamous Cachiros gang, were given leniency and are being protected by the federal government with public information being actively suppressed about the status of their criminal cases and their current whereabouts.
BIDEN’S BAD HOMBRES
Lobo was extradited to the U.S. in 2014 as part of JOH’s widespread crackdown against narco trafficking in Honduras. US Attorneys and DEA officials called Lobo “one of the biggest cocaine transporters in the international drug trade” at the time of his arrest with evidence showing that Lobo smuggled more than 450 kilograms of cocaine into the US.
The District Attorneys commended the efforts of JOH at the time to put Lobo behind bars, but that all changed when the anti-Trump political agenda of the Biden administration took hold. Lobo was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but he only served 10 years after he engaged in secret negotiations with the U.S. Attorney’s office at the same time that JOH was under indictment.
An obvious conflict of interest exists with Lobo highly motivated and incentivized to provide any testimony to harm the leader who put him behind bars as well as reduce his sentence. Following his release, Lobo has been pictured living it up in Miami, lounging on the beach, drinking a cold cerveza and carousing with a lady after having essentially gotten away with murder with help from the federal government.
Soriano is the corrupt former Mayor of El Paraíso, Honduras. El Paraíso is a small town on the border of Guatemala but its location makes it a key spot for drug trafficking. Soriano was able to rise from humble means to become El Paraíso Mayor and exploit his position of power to become a crucial player in the drug trade acting as liaison between Colombian and Mexican traffickers.
After he was indicted by U.S. authorities and extradited to Honduras, Soriano confessed to being guilty of 56 murders as part of his years in the illicit drug trade. In order to avoid being held culpable for his crimes, Soriano, a half-literate simpleton with a 5th grade education, had to spin some tales about JOH or he would never see the light of day again.
Soriano made up fantastical stories about JOH, including setting up an alleged meeting between Hernandez and El Chapo, to create the headlines needed to satisfy the Biden DEA officials pulling the strings. He also claimed to be a bribery czar of sorts for JOH, claiming that his bribe money fueled JOH’s rise from the National Congress to the Presidency. Conveniently, three of Soriano’s top deputies in this bribery scheme are dead and were not around to corroborate any of his testimony.
There was scant reporting about the details of Soriano’s sentencing after he turned informant against JOH. The look up on the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office page shows Soriano was released on Jan. 14, 2025 after no bail was set and his bond was revoked. Court reporting from the Inner City Press indicates that Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, congratulated Soriano for his performance in the courtroom, telling Soriano that his “cooperation put some truly bad elements in jail” to which Soriano reportedly replied, “it really is an honor.”
Mariadiaga is a convicted drug lord who pleaded guilty to sanctioning 78 murders while leading a billion dollar drug trafficking syndicate, among the most powerful in Central America, called the “Cachiros” gang. Mariadiaga artfully played overeager DEA agents like a fiddle to ensure preferential treatment following his indictment despite his undeniable kingpin status.
With JOH’s increased enforcement measures against drug cartels, Mariadiaga saw the writing on the wall as his assets were being seized and his Cachiros gang were under public investigation by the U.S. Maradiaga got ahead of the issue, turning himself in and then worked with the feds to throw the leader cracking down on the cartels under the bus to protect himself.
Mariadiaga recorded an interview with a drug trafficker who alleged to have paid off $250,000 in drug money to JOH, but the money ultimately could not be tracked and the allegations were never substantiated with serious evidence during court proceedings. It is recognized that the murder rate dropped and corrupt police officers were removed from the force during JOH’s time in office, not indicators that he was some hidden drug lord, but those factors were not taken into consideration during JOH’s trial.
Of all the Honduran drug criminals involved in engineering the imprisonment of JOH, it is particularly difficult to find any public information about Maradiaga’s sentencing. A sealed indictment filed on Apr. 14, 2016 noted Maradiaga pleaded guilty in multiple felonies that called for life sentences in prison. Still, the plea agreement approved in the infamous Southern District of New York (SDNY) noted that the feds "will take steps...to ensure his safety and that of his family and loved ones" which "may include application to the Witness Security Program...whereby the defendant, his family, and loved ones, if approved, could be relocated under a new identity."
Mariadiaga’s plea agreement was approved by Obama-appointed SDNY attorney Preet Bharara, who was fired by President Trump in 2017. Stone Cold Truth attempted to procure additional details on Mariadiaga’s case and his whereabouts by filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Department of Justice that ultimately only resulted in more questions than answers.
"To the extent that non-public responsive records exist, without consent, proof of death, or an overriding public interest, disclosure of law enforcement records concerning an individual could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy," the DOJ wrote to Stone Cold Truth in their initial denial to provide any records about Maradiaga.
Following an appeal that cited the newsworthiness of the case details regarding this drug lord, the DOJ stonewalled once more, this time under the pretense of not being sure which federal agency would possess the information.
"Based on the information you have provided, I cannot determine the nature of the records you are seeking and therefore cannot recommend a federal entity to which you should submit your request," the DOJ wrote in its appeal denial.
The extreme lack of transparency in the case of Mariadiaga raises many questions, such as: Is Maradiaga a free man? Was he given federal witness protection as a result of his cooperation in the JOH conviction? Is Mariadiaga living it up in luxury like his murderous buddy Lobo? Is he holed up in a neighborhood near you?
These drug-dealing thugs who have been given leniency by the federal government can be connected to the regime of far-left Honduran President Xiomara Castro through her brother-in-law. Both Lobo and Maradiaga were caught on video negotiating drug bribes with Carlos Zelaya, the former Secretary of Congress who is brothers with former President Mel Zalaya, the husband of current President Xiomara Castro.
In one video, Carlos Zelaya was caught speaking about drug money that had been received by his brother, Mel. They referenced an alleged $500,000 that Mel Zelaya received in bribe money from the cartels. The traffickers agreed to put together $650,000 for Carlos Zelaya to ensure his compliance. He said “half must go to the commander” meaning his brother, with the rest of the drug money going into the coffers of the far-left LIBRE Party that is currently in control of Honduras. They also discussed drug cartels providing vehicular transport for LIBRE Party functions.
Carlos Zelaya was forced to resign in disgrace as Secretary of Congress as a result of the scandal, and his son José Manuel Zelaya was forced to resign as Minister of Defense as well. At the same time, President Castro announced she would be cancelling the extradition treaty with the United States, claiming “a plan is being forged against my government” when in actuality she was seeking to protect family members and political cronies who have been compromised by the cartel.
Castro’s officials have been seen publicly fraternizing with leaders of the narco trade in Latin America and flouting it in the face of U.S. officials. Last year, former Defense Minister José Manuel Zelaya held a meeting with Maduro capo and indicted Venezuelan drug dealer Vladimir Padrino, drawing the ire of former U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Laura Dogu who said she was “surprised” the Castro regime met with “drug traffickers.” The Biden administration had been hoodwinked.
Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina derided the “interference and interventionism of the United States” in response to Dogu’s comments, reiterating the country’s desire to escape its extradition agreement with the U.S. After Trump was elected to his second term, Castro suddenly recanted her plan to terminate the extradition agreement – at least for the time being as a crucial national election looms for the LIBRE Party in November.
The deals entered into by these drug kingpins and murderers with the Biden DEA allowed them to throw their enemies under the bus, getting them clemency and leniency as a result, with the federal deep state securing convictions that will help career bureaucrats move up the Washington D.C. ladder. Meanwhile, Honduras is in worse shape than ever before, the flow of drugs has increased, the political and economic conditions are resulting in more migrants pouring up into the U.S., and the extradition agreement is in jeopardy. This is the legacy of JOH’s railroading and imprisonment.
There was never any video or hard evidence connecting JOH to any drug trafficking activity. His conviction was based upon hearsay and farfetched stories from drug traffickers who JOH had thrown in prison. There is far more evidence connecting far-left President Castro to cartel behavior than there ever was for JOH. If Castro’s LIBRE Party is able to win the national election in November, Honduras will become as despotic and dictatorial as the Maduro regime in Venezuela overnight.
This humanitarian disaster that can be felt across the U.S. southern border was fueled by Biden corruption, desperate to destroy Trump allies throughout the world and by judges, prosecutors, district attorneys and bureaucrats who prioritized their own glory, prestige and advancement ahead of justice. The persecution of JOH is an international travesty, but the damage can be undone with the power of the pen. By issuing a pardon, President Trump can free JOH, expose the immense corruption that underpinned this entire scandal, and damage the legitimacy of the anti-American leftists heading into an election cycle that will shape the trajectory of Honduras for generations to come.
Dang the evil runs so deep
Not only should President Trump issue a pardon, but it is time for the current DOJ to start indicting the lawbreakers from the Biden administration, certainly starting with Mr.Garland.