The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, was sentenced Wednesday June 26 in New York to 45 years in prison for international drug trafficking and to pay a fine of eight million dollars. Accused of having helped ship hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States, the man who was head of state from 2014 to 2022 was found guilty in March of criminal conspiracy for drug trafficking and possession of weapons.
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” Juan Orlando Hernández abused his position as President of Honduras to turn the country into a narco-state where violent drug traffickers could operate with virtual impunity, and the people of Honduras and the United States were forced to suffer. the results », Said the American Minister of Justice, Merrick Garland, in March.
The former president of Honduras has proclaimed his innocence, claiming to be “ victim of cartel revenge “. But according to US prosecutors, he 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 would have received millions of dollars from the cartels, including that of Sinaloa, led by the famous Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, since convicted in the United States.
In exchange for these bribes, Juan Orlando Hernández “ protected drug traffickers from investigations, (avoiding their) arrest and extradition “, assure the American authorities.
Juan Orlando Hernández was extradited in April 2022 to the United States.
Juan Orlando Hernández was initially seen by the United States as an ally in the fight against drug trafficking. In 2017, Washington was one of the first capitals to recognize his re-election while the opposition denounced fraud against a backdrop of demonstrations which left around thirty dead.
With his conviction, Juan Orlando Hernández joins other former Latin American leaders tried and convicted in the United States, such as the Panamanian Manuel Noriega in 1992 for drug trafficking and the Guatemalan Alfonso Portillo in 2014 for money laundering.
Read alsoHonduras: ex-president found guilty of international drug trafficking by American justice