By Abiola Olawale
A federal court in the United States (U.S) has sentenced former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, to 45 years in prison and imposed an additional $8 million fine for his involvement in operating a “narco-state” that facilitated the trafficking of South American cocaine to the United States.
The sentencing came after U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel had convicted Hernández of federal drug and weapons charges in March.
The judge had ruled that evidence before him showed that Hernández built his political career on millions of dollars in bribes from traffickers in Honduras and Mexico.
During court proceedings, the prosecution lawyer team had told the court that Hernández, during his two terms as Honduras president from 2014 to 2022 assisted move at least 400 tons of cocaine to the United States while protecting traffickers from extradition and prosecution. The ex-president pleaded that there was an error in the charges.
In his ruling, Castel found the error “immaterial” to the charge of conspiring with drug traffickers.
Castel also said that two participants who cooperated against Hernández admitted to more than 130 murders.
He held: “Hernandez’s conviction was based on the testimony, throughout a three-week trial, of numerous witnesses whose testimony was corroborated in part by phone records and a recovered drug ledger.
“Juan Orlando Hernández abused his power as the president of Honduras to send incomprehensible amounts of cocaine to the United States.”
The New Diplomat reports that the U.S. Justice Department has been investigating Hernández as part of a broader probe into drug trafficking allegations against the Honduran political elite.
It would be recalled that his brother, Tony Hernández, was convicted of federal drug trafficking charges in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison.
At the request of the United States, Honduran police arrested Hernández within weeks of his departure from office in January 2022, and he was extradited to face federal charges in New York.
