Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, convicted of helping ship hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States, was sentenced Wednesday in New York to 45 years in prison for international drug trafficking.
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Mr. Hernandez, 55, listened impassively as his verdict was delivered. He was also ordered to pay a fine of eight million dollars.
The man who was head of state from 2014 to 2022 was found guilty in March of criminal conspiracy with a view to drug trafficking and possession of weapons.
AFP
“As President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez abused his power to support one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking operations in the world, and the people of Honduras and the United States suffered the consequences,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
In the courtroom, the former president of Honduras once again proclaimed his innocence. “I have been accused unfairly and inappropriately,” he said in prison uniform. He arrived with a cane in his hand after having an accident while playing football.
His lawyer said he would appeal.
Sudden fall
According to US prosecutors, the former president participated in and protected a network that shipped approximately 400 tons of cocaine to the United States between 2004 and 2022, while he was a member of Congress, speaker of Congress and then president of the Republic.
In return, he allegedly received millions of dollars from cartels, including the Sinaloa cartel, led by the famous Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, who has since been convicted in the United States.
In exchange for these bribes, Juan Orlando Hernandez “protected drug traffickers from investigations (avoiding their) arrest and extradition,” assure the American authorities.
Juan Orlando Hernandez was extradited to the United States in April 2022.
The fall was brutal for “JOH”, as he is called in his country. He had barely handed over power to the new left-wing president Xiomara Castro when the former head of state found himself chained at the wrists and ankles during his arrest, in front of the cameras.
Juan Orlando Hernandez, who had presented himself as the champion of the fight against drug trafficking, had initially been seen by the United States as an ally in this fight. Washington had been one of the first capitals to recognize his re-election in 2017 while the opposition denounced fraud against a backdrop of protests that left around thirty dead.
With his conviction, Juan Orlando Hernandez joins other former Latin American leaders tried and convicted in the United States, such as Panamanian Manuel Noriega in 1992 for drug trafficking and Guatemalan Alfonso Portillo in 2014 for money laundering.
