Audio Links Milei to Regional Disinformation Operation Against Sheinbaum & Petro

ByStella Calloni

This article by Stella Calloni originally appeared in the May 2, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Buenos Aires. Argentine President Javier Milei allegedly contributed $350,000 to form a regional communications team to launch a media campaign against the presidents of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, and Colombia, Gustavo Petro, according to audio recordings of a conversation between former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández and current Honduran authorities, which caused a strong reaction in Argentina.

The audios “from WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram, are part of a detailed journalistic investigation published in Diario Red América Latina, directed by the Spaniard Pablo Iglesias (based in Mexico) and the Hondurasgate portal,” says the newspaper Página 12.

Hernández was arrested for drug trafficking in the United States in 2024, sentenced to 24 years in prison and pardoned by President Donald Trump, despite being one of the most important drug kingpins in the region.

In one of the audio recordings, Hernández stated that “as part of that group or ‘continental entity,’ Milei’s role is important because he contributes thousands of dollars to the construction of those fake news sources. We are going to set up a cell, President (of Honduras, Nasry Asfura). From here, from the United States, so that they can’t track us there in Honduras. It’s going to be like a Latin American news site,” the newspaper highlighted.

The audio also reveals that Hernández has the task of “attacking and eradicating the cancer of the left there, in Honduras and throughout Latin America,” Diario Red points out, for which he needs to organize and install in the United States a “digital journalism unit” that will be managed by “someone else from here, from the team of the President of the United States.”

In an audio recording from January 30, Hernández maintains that he was “on a call with President Javier Milei and it was successful. Very, very, very good, and I believe that at this point we can do great things for all of Latin America. There are pending cases against Mexico, there are pending cases against Colombia, and most importantly, against Honduras, in this case against the Zelaya family.”

On the same day, another conversation was leaked in which Hernández sends a message to the Vice President of Honduras, María Antonieta Mejía, telling her that he needs “that liquidity because we are going to set up an office here. With the support of some Republicans, we will be able to attack and eradicate the cancer of the left in Honduras and throughout Latin America.”

And again it emerges that he had sent messages to President Asfura and told him that he had been able to speak with Milei and “another great friend of ours from Mexico is also supporting us, now regarding the issue of Mexicans. We are quite ready and hoping that this will move forward strongly.”

Former Honduran President Hernández, a Trump protégé, also claimed that his pardon was obtained thanks to “the ‘money’ contributed by a group of rabbis,” and that is why everything he does is in favor of the United States and Israel, guaranteeing their control of the area “and, above all, ensuring a legal framework that benefits US and Israeli artificial intelligence companies.”

It was at Trump’s behest that this team was formed, following the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moro and his wife Cilia Flores on January 3rd. At that time, Milei ordered a campaign to be launched against the Venezuelan leader with a special protocol, offering the United States that Maduro would be arrested and “extradited” to Argentina.

Milei’s popularity is declining daily, and polls indicate that his popularity is at its lowest level in recent memory.

Currently, he faces demands for reports to parliament regarding the series of land and air military maneuvers taking place in Argentine Patagonia, part of whose territory has been handed over to foreign companies, and militarily to the Southern Command, in addition to the denunciation of the presence of 17,000 Israeli soldiers in that region.

In recent days, the demonstrations by the General Confederation of Labor on April 30th and then on May 1st, along with social organizations, led to decisions to move from offensive resistance through strikes and mobilizations, given the deteriorating social situation, and announced a national day of struggle, with a cessation of activities and mobilizations in the main cities of the country, for May 22nd.