FILE - In this Dec. 21, 2012 file photo, Honduras Police Chief Gen. Juan Carlos Bonilla, also known as the Tiger, salutes during an event in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. On Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo announced that he and President-elect Juan Orlando Hernandez have fired Bonilla, the general in charge of the country's police force who has been long accused of running death squads. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio, File)
December 19, 2013 - 6:05 PM
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Honduran President Porfirio Lobo has fired the general in charge of the country's police force who has been long accused of running death squads.
Lobo said Thursday he made the decision to fire Gen. Juan Carlos Bonilla together with President-elect Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Bonilla was the U.S. government's go-to man in Honduras for the war on drug trafficking, although the State Department denied it worked directly with Bonilla, also known as the Tiger.
Bonilla was indicted in 2002 for human rights violations stemming from accusations he ran death squads. More recently, he was overseeing a department suspected of beating, killing and disappearing those they detained.
He has denied the accusations.
Honduras serves as a way station for most South American cocaine bound for the U.S.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013