On Wednesday, a New York court sentenced former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández to 45 years in prison for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States.
Anti-Hernández demonstrators gathered outside the Manhattan courthouse before the sentencing, holding posters condemning the former head of state’s crimes.
The punishment, which included a $8 million fine, was less than the life term requested by prosecutors—though Hernández’s age, 55, means he might die in prison.
Judge P. Kevin Castel stated that the punishment should serve as a reminder to “well-educated, well-dressed” individuals who obtain power and believe their status protects them from prosecution when they do wrongdoing.
But Hernández remained obstinate. “I am innocent,” he stated through an interpreter after his sentencing. “I was wrongly and unjustly accused.”
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In a lengthy extemporaneous statement interrupted several times by the judge, who reminded Hernández that this was not the time to relitigate the trial, the former leader portrayed himself as an anti-drug trafficking hero who collaborated with American authorities under three administrations to reduce drug imports.
However, the judge stated that trial evidence demonstrated the contrary and that Hernández used “considerable acting skills” to appear to be an anti-drug trafficking crusader while using his country’s police and military to defend the drug trade as needed.
Hernández, who was accused by US federal prosecutors of turning his Central American country into a “narco-state” from 2014 to 2022, has previously stated that he intends to appeal his sentence.
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Hernández was convicted in March of facilitating the smuggling of around 500 tons of cocaine, primarily from Colombia and Venezuela, to the United States through Honduras since 2004, long before his administration.
Prosecutors allege that Hernández used drug money to enrich himself, bankroll his political campaign, and conduct electoral fraud in the 2013 and 2017 presidential elections.
He was extradited to the United States in 2022, charged with assisting drug smugglers in exchange for millions of dollars in payments.
“Hernández received millions of dollars in drug money from some of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico, and elsewhere, and used those bribes to fuel his rise in Honduran politics,” stated federal prosecutors in the past.
Hernández follows in the footsteps of several previous Latin American leaders convicted in the United States, including Panama’s Manuel Noriega in 1992 and Guatemala’s Alfonso Portillo in 2014.
Prosecutors claimed the former president collaborated closely with the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico’s most dangerous criminal organizations. Its founder, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, is currently receiving a life sentence in the United States CBSNEWS stated.
“When the leader of Honduras and the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel collaborate to deliver deadly drugs into American communities, both deserve to be held accountable in the United States,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement. “This case should send a clear message that no one is above the law or beyond our reach.”