AI-generated composition of Donald Trump and Juan Orlando Hernández in a confrontational stance, with Presidents Claudia Sheinbaum and Gustavo Petro observing over their shoulders. Photo: Diario Red.
The second leak of audio recordings from the “Hondurasgate” scandal, exclusively released by Canal Red, exposes a US-led plan to destabilize the governments of Mexico and Colombia. The strategy involves a coordinated media disinformation campaign orchestrated from the US and Argentinian presidencies.
By Valeria Duarte Galleguillos – Apr 30, 2026
What does it mean that the former president of Honduras, convicted of drug trafficking in the US and pardoned by Trump, is acting as an operator for the MAGA administration in Latin America? The geopolitical context is key to understanding this. While China consolidates its dominance in the processing of critical minerals, controlling more than 85% of the world’s rare earth refining, the US has intensified efforts to secure its “spheres of influence.” This struggle transcends natural resources, focusing on the control of supply chains and the imposition of a specific development model over Latin America and the Caribbean.
Juan Orlando, Trump’s operative against Mexico and Colombia
The leaked audio recordings of conversations between Hernández, Nasry Asfura, and Vice President María Antonieta Mejía reveal the formation of a communications team financed with Honduran public funds and contributions from Javier Milei’s government exceeding half a million dollars. Their objective: to launch a media attack against the governments of Gustavo Petro in Colombia and Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico.
The operation is not a coincidence. In 2025, Trump publicly accused Petro of being a “drug trafficking” leader and hinted at a possible ground intervention in Mexico to “combat” the cartels. The Hondurasgate audio we published today implicates several Honduran political figures in these interference operations, assembling and financing a team to produce fake news with people close to Donald Trump. According to the audio, Javier Milei allegedly participated in financing the operation.
Audio: Call between Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH) and Nasry Asfura (NA), Jan. 30, 2026
JOH: I need you to please send about $150,000 to Rosales’ account, because we’re going to rent an apartment here and set up an office there to establish a Digital Journalism Unit. Someone else from here, from the US president’s team, will manage it. Well, he’s one of the Republicans who are helping us. They’re going to set up a news site where they will publish important information about Manuel Zelaya and Xiomara Castro.
NA: I’m going to transfer it from a friend’s account. Let’s see if they can give it to you in cash, but explain to me what we’re going to do with it, what we gain from it.
JOH: We’re going to set up a presidential cell. From here, from the US, an information hub, so they can’t track us there in Honduras. It’s going to be like a Latin American news site. I was on a call with President Javier Milei and it was successful. Very, very, very good, and I think that at this point we can do great things for all of Latin America. There are some cases coming up against Mexico, some cases coming up against Colombia, and most importantly against Honduras, in this case against the Zelaya family.
NA: I also think you need a little more money. For yourself. So we’re going to send another 150,000. And that way you can survive a little longer. We’re going to take it from INSEP.
Audio: Call between María Antonieta Mejía (MAM) and Juan Orlando Hernández, January 30, 2026
JOH: And I need to have that liquidity because we’re going to set up an office here. With the support of some Republicans, we’ll be able to attack and eradicate the cancer of the left here in Honduras and throughout Latin America. I was telling President Asfura that we were able to speak with Javier Milei, and he’s also contributing $350,000. Another great friend of ours from Mexico is also supporting us, specifically regarding the Mexican issue. We’re quite ready and hoping this moves forward strongly. That’s why.
MAM: Mr. President, if you’d like, let’s skip the details. I just wanted to confirm the amount. Since I already know it, I’ll take care of everything. $300,000 then.
Military bases, ZEDEs, and the handover of territory
The spoils awaiting Washington in exchange for its support are the transformation of Honduras into a strategic enclave. The agreements include the expansion of the Employment and Development Zones (ZEDEs), the construction of a new military base, in addition to the Soto Cano Air Base (Palmerola), operated by the Southern Command since 1982, and a law incentivizing US investment in artificial intelligence.
The strategic objective is made explicit in the US National Security Strategy: “to deny non-hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities.” In current geopolitical language, this translates into a clear guideline: to block Chinese influence in Latin America.
Furthermore, the construction of a Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) is planned for the Honduran capital, mirroring the repressive model used in El Salvador. The Salvadoran facility has been heavily criticized, as it has operated as a center for torture and human rights violations, according to reports from civil society human rights organizations.
Audio: Voice note from Nasry Asfura to Juan Orlando Hernández, February 10, 2026
NA: Mr. President, it’s a pleasure to greet you. We already had a private session with investment circles, and they are very positive about the expansion of the ZEDE in Roatán and in Comayagua, as well as Palmerola. We’re going to move another Palmerola project specifically to Roatán, where Próspera is located. A base, uh, we’ve already negotiated that. Also, the interoceanic corridor. We’re going to hand it over to General Electric. And the idea is also to buy all the metals and other materials, specifically from Argentina and the US, avoiding Canada and China, as those were the warnings we received. The Chinese were making offers. But we’re not going to give in. We’re going to put a stop to that. And the Honduran CECOT prison is also coming, inside Tegucigalpa.
Violence as a form of control
One of the most disturbing revelations in the audio is Hernández’s direct instruction to use “any type of violence” to keep the population under control, as requested by Trump. Juan Orlando Hernández relayed this order to Tomás Zambrano, president of the National Congress, even invoking the figure of drug trafficker Pablo Escobar as a reference.
Similarly, the voice of Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, the same head of the Armed Forces who led the coup against Manuel Zelaya in 2009, can be heard coordinating with the Armed Forces to “begin the hunt.”
Audio: Voice note from Juan Orlando Hernández to Tomás Zambrano, March 18, 2026
JOH: In Honduras, you need force, you need logistics, you need blood. If you want to control people, you need to oppress them. Squeeze them dry. Counter violence by generating violence. It’s whatever President Trump says, and you just have to pretend he’s going to be there forever. How? I don’t know, but you just have to take that seriously, and listen to me. And don’t be so soft, forget your heart. Don’t be so soft. Otherwise, you can’t do the job. That’s what Pablo Escobar said.
The culture battle: evangelical churches versus the left
The final pillar of the strategy is ideological. The audios reveal a plan to manipulate the “common sense” of the Honduran population so that they perceive the LIBRE party government as a failure, even though the plotters themselves acknowledge its achievements.
The operational arm of this culture battle are the evangelical churches. In Honduras, evangelicals have mobilized their parishioners in massive marches against the government of former president Xiomara Castro, such as the one convened in August 2025 under the slogan “for peace and in defense of democracy” in coordination with the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise.
This is not an isolated phenomenon. In a country where a large part of the population identifies as Christian, religious polarization has become an effective political weapon.
Audio: Voice note from Juan Orlando to Tomás Zambrano, April 9, 2026
JOH: And we need to do something even more important, which is to get all the churches on board to support us. The churches are the ones who will make sure people forget the past. And that they think it was the left that did it.
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A continental strategy
This second batch of audio recordings would confirm that Honduras is just one piece in a larger game. The US strategy, executed by local operatives like Juan Orlando Hernández, seeks to regain hegemonic control of the region—that is, the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine—through a combination of lawfare, military control of strategic resources, narcoterrorism, and religious and media manipulation.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/JB
