NEW YORK, NY - Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, convicted in March on three drug trafficking charges for accepting bribes to protect drug traffickers, was sentenced to 45 years in prison Wednesday and fined $8 million.
The dramatic trial, conviction, and sentencing of a former foreign head-of-state made international headlines beginning with Hernández's arrest just three weeks after leaving office in February 2022.
As reported by The Associated Press, the ex-President turned federal inmate was extradited in April of that year. Despite being well-regarded by U.S. State Department officials as a "valued partner in the drug war," the Department of Justice unveiled allegations that he was part of a complex conspiracy that saw him accept millions of dollars from drug traffickers in exchange for helping them facilitate smuggling over 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., as reported by ABC News.
The staggering reversal, combined with wide unpopularity in his home country on allegations he trampled the constitution by violating term limits and took power in an election fraught with irregularities, reportedly caused his trial to be quite popular in the capital of Tegucigalpa.
Through an interpreter, Hernández professed, “I am innocent. I was wrongly and unjustly accused.”
He added "It’s as if I had been thrown into a deep river with my hands bound," claiming that while nearly all political parties in Honduras accept drug money, he never has. He further insisted that he was not allowed to include evidence of his innocence and said politicians and drug traffickers were persecuting him.
CNN reported that during Hernández's tenure from 2014-2022, he "protected and enriched the drug traffickers in his inner circle,” according to the Justice Department. They added that he used his power as president to support the extradition of drug traffickers "who threatened his grip on power," all the while “promising drug traffickers who paid him and followed his instructions that they would remain in Honduras.”
U.S. Ambassador Laura Dogu, who has served in Honduras since 2022 and served previously as Ambassador to neighboring Nicaragua under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, expressed a much different view Wednesday. She told reporters, "Here in Honduras and in the United States, we cannot forget that the actions of Juan Orlando have made the people suffer."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Gutwillig told the judge that Hernández chose to “commit evil,” noting, “No one, not even the former president of a country, is above the law."
In 2021 his brother Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, a former Honduran congressman, was also prosecuted in the U.S. and sentenced to life in prison on drug charges.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that Hernández “abused his position as president of Honduras to operate the country as a narco-state where violent drug traffickers were allowed to operate with virtual impunity, and the people of Honduras and the United States were forced to suffer the consequences.”
The dramatic trial, conviction, and sentencing of a former foreign head-of-state made international headlines beginning with Hernández's arrest just three weeks after leaving office in February 2022.
As reported by The Associated Press, the ex-President turned federal inmate was extradited in April of that year. Despite being well-regarded by U.S. State Department officials as a "valued partner in the drug war," the Department of Justice unveiled allegations that he was part of a complex conspiracy that saw him accept millions of dollars from drug traffickers in exchange for helping them facilitate smuggling over 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., as reported by ABC News.
The staggering reversal, combined with wide unpopularity in his home country on allegations he trampled the constitution by violating term limits and took power in an election fraught with irregularities, reportedly caused his trial to be quite popular in the capital of Tegucigalpa.
BREAKING IN NEW YORK: Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez has just now been sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined $8 million by a judge in Manhattan, New York, for drug trafficking offenses.
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) June 26, 2024
NOTE: Despite denying the charges and claiming innocence at his… pic.twitter.com/ywrs6zahew
Through an interpreter, Hernández professed, “I am innocent. I was wrongly and unjustly accused.”
He added "It’s as if I had been thrown into a deep river with my hands bound," claiming that while nearly all political parties in Honduras accept drug money, he never has. He further insisted that he was not allowed to include evidence of his innocence and said politicians and drug traffickers were persecuting him.
CNN reported that during Hernández's tenure from 2014-2022, he "protected and enriched the drug traffickers in his inner circle,” according to the Justice Department. They added that he used his power as president to support the extradition of drug traffickers "who threatened his grip on power," all the while “promising drug traffickers who paid him and followed his instructions that they would remain in Honduras.”
U.S. Ambassador Laura Dogu, who has served in Honduras since 2022 and served previously as Ambassador to neighboring Nicaragua under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, expressed a much different view Wednesday. She told reporters, "Here in Honduras and in the United States, we cannot forget that the actions of Juan Orlando have made the people suffer."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Gutwillig told the judge that Hernández chose to “commit evil,” noting, “No one, not even the former president of a country, is above the law."
In 2021 his brother Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, a former Honduran congressman, was also prosecuted in the U.S. and sentenced to life in prison on drug charges.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that Hernández “abused his position as president of Honduras to operate the country as a narco-state where violent drug traffickers were allowed to operate with virtual impunity, and the people of Honduras and the United States were forced to suffer the consequences.”
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Comments
2024-07-01T05:03-0400 | Comment by: Paul
I'm surprised that Garland prosecuted him. Better yet, I'm even more surprised that Biden and Garland hasn't awarded him with the congressional medal of honor.