Honduran president denies protection for drug traffickers

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez denied on Thursday that the Central American nation protects drug traffickers or is a narco state, following allegations in the U.S. trial of his brother that the two men accepted bribes from cocaine smugglers. President Hernandez spoke as a jury deliberated after closing arguments from U.S. prosecutors.

The president's brother Juan Antonio "Tony" Hernandez faces charges of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. Tony Hernandez, a former congressman, has pleaded not guilty.