Juan Orlando Hernández
, who was president of Honduras between 2014 and 2022, was found guilty of
three counts of drug and weapons trafficking this Friday
.
The former Honduran president, who is now waiting for New York Judge Kevin Castel to hand down his sentence, faces a sentence that
could lead him to spend the rest of his life in prison
.
Hernández will thus become the
highest-ranking Latin American leader convicted of drug trafficking
after the case of Panamanian Manuel Antonio Noriega, sentenced in 1992 in a Florida court to 40 years in prison for his connections with the Colombian Medellín cartel.
The prosecution, which maintains that the former president
created a narco-state during his presidency
, accused him of conspiring to traffic drugs to the United States, as well as conspiring to traffic weapons and possession and which are punishable by life imprisonment.
In this sense, prosecutor Jacob H. Gutwillig reminded the jury that Hernández, 55, maintained a double discourse: in public he promoted laws against drug trafficking and extraditions of drug traffickers to the United States and met with US officials and authorities, but "
None of this undoes what the defendant did behind closed doors
. "
"He is a drug trafficker," stressed the prosecutor.
Instead, the former president declared as he left the room:
"I am innocent, tell the world, I love them
. "
Two sisters-in-law were there to accompany him, because
neither his wife nor his children received a visa
to travel to New York.
There were also the three generals who testified on his behalf at the trial.
Historic condemnation of a former president: Chapo Guzmán's millions and the phrase that made him famous in the United States.
After hearing from Judge Kevin Castel that the jury had reached a verdict,
Hernandez appeared to pray
.
Afterwards, he followed the verdict, shaking his head in disbelief as the jury foreman answered each of the questions the judge asked to establish his guilt.
Several people celebrate the decision that finds Hernández guilty in front of the court in New York.
Photo EFE
Fifty Hondurans who were outside the court immediately began to celebrate
the verdict, which could cost Hernández several life sentences.
"Today justice has been done," euphoric human rights activist Lida Perdomo said outside the court.
According to the US prosecutor's office, Hernández participated and protected between 2004 and 2022 - when he was a deputy, president of Congress and then President of the Republic - a
network that sent more than 500 tons of cocaine to the United States
.
In exchange, he would have received millions of dollars from the cartels, including from Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín "Chapo" Guzmán - sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States -.
The charge of "
conspiring to import cocaine" carries a sentence of between 10 years
and life;
"using and carrying machine guns and other destructive devices" to introduce drugs
is punishable between 30 years and life
;
and "conspiring to use and carry machine guns" to import drugs also has a maximum penalty of life.
The judge retained the three charges brought against him by the Prosecutor's Office on behalf of the United States Government, which repeatedly said that Hernández "participated in a corrupt and violent drug trafficking conspiracy to
facilitate the importation of hundreds of thousands of kilograms of cocaine to the United States
".
El Chapo Guzmán, one of the drug super lords who would have paid millions of dollars to the former president of Honduras.
AP Photo
Although during the trial no conclusive evidence was seen - in the form of videos, audios or intercepted communications - that incriminates Hernández, the jury
was convinced by the testimonies provided by notorious drug traffickers who testified against him
after having pleaded guilty before the US Justice. presumably in search of prison benefits.
Extradited in April 2022 to the United States, three months after handing over the presidency to his successor, the leftist Xiomara Castro, the convicted man is the author of the famous phrase "
We are going to shove drugs under their noses (to the Americans). ) and they won't even notice
," according to a witness.
"We hope they sentence him
to at least three life sentences
and that would be little to pay for all the damage he did to my country," activist Perdomo told AFP.
The judge has yet to announce the former president's sentencing in the coming weeks or months.
The long history of Honduran politics and drug trafficking
Defense attorney Raymond Colon announced that
his client will appeal the ruling
.
"He maintains that he is innocent," he said.
Another lawyer, Renato Stabile, told AFP with misty eyes that "obviously the ruling is harsh, but (the former president) is mentally very strong."
The former president
will thus follow in the footsteps of his brother Tony Hernández and Geovanny Fuentes
, a close collaborator of his, who are serving life sentences in the United States.
Others convicted of the same crime are Fabio Lobo, son of former president Porfirio Lobo (2010-2014), and deputy Fredy Renán Nájera.
Since 2014,
Honduras extradited 38 people accused of drug trafficking to the United States.
Drawing of former president Juan Orlando Hernández while awaiting the sentencing of the trial against him.
Photo EFE
Former national police chief Juan Carlos "Tigre" Bonilla and former police officer Mauricio Hernández, who were to be tried with the former president, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking a few days before the start of the trial.
Their sentences will be known in the coming months.
Many of the dozen witnesses presented by the prosecution revealed corruption and the close links between politics and drug trafficking.
"The political elite, which is also the economic one, operated in complete impunity" during the last 15 years
, since the 2009 coup d'état, emboldened by "the support it received from foreign governments even though they knew it was deeply involved with the drug trafficking," American activist Karen Spring of the Honduras Solidarity Network organization told AFP.
With information from AFP and EFE