Juan Orlando Hernández, a rebellious former Honduran president, was sentenced Wednesday in New York to 45 years in prison for conspiring with bribing drug traffickers over a decade to smuggle more than 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.
Judge P. Kevin Castel sentenced Hernandez to 45 years in a U.S. prison and a fine of $8 million, saying the punishment should serve as a warning to “well-educated and well-dressed” people who gain power and think their position means they can commit wrongdoing without facing justice.
A jury convicted him in Manhattan federal court in March after a two-week trial that was closely watched in his home country.
Former Honduran president convicted in US for aiding drug traffickers
“I am innocent,” Hernandez said through an interpreter during the sentencing. “I was falsely and unjustly accused.”
In a lengthy, impromptu statement, interrupted repeatedly by the judge who said now was not the time to restart the trial, Hernandez portrayed himself as an anti-drug trafficking hero who worked with U.S. authorities to reduce drug imports under three U.S. presidential administrations.
But the judge said the evidence at trial demonstrated the opposite, and that Hernandez had used “considerable theatrical skills” to portray himself as an anti-drug trafficking crusader while mobilizing the country’s police and military when necessary to prevent drug trafficking.
Castells called Hernández a “power-hungry, two-faced politician” who protects a select group of traffickers.
As the sentence was handed down, a bespectacled Hernandez, clad in a plain green prison uniform, stood next to his lawyer in front of two federal marshals. After shaking hands with his lawyer and nodding to the packed gallery, Hernandez limped out of the courtroom with the help of a cane and a brace on one leg.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of life imprisonment plus 30 years, as recommended by the court’s probation officer.
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez is escorted in handcuffs ahead of his extradition to the United States, April 21, 2022, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. (AP Photo/Elmer Martinez, File)
Hernandez, 55, served two terms as leader of the Central American country of about 10 million people.
He was arrested at his home in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, three months after leaving office in 2022 and extradited to the United States in April of the same year.
U.S. prosecutors say Hernandez collaborated with drug traffickers as far back as 2004, accepting millions of dollars in bribes as he rose from local councilman to speaker of Congress and then to the country’s highest office.
In his trial testimony, Hernández acknowledged that drug money had been paid to nearly every political party in Honduras but denied that he had taken bribes.
In a lengthy statement on Wednesday, Hernandez argued the trial was unfair because jurors were unable to present evidence on which to base an acquittal, and said he was being persecuted by politicians and drug traffickers.
“It was like being thrown into a deep river with my hands tied,” he said.
In Honduras on Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador Laura Dougu said the sentence was an important step in combating the social impact of drug trafficking.
“We cannot forget the suffering that Juan Orlando’s actions caused our people, here in Honduras and in the United States,” Dogue said.
Honduran criminal lawyer and criminal analyst Luis Romero said the sentence came as a surprise to many in Honduras, who believed he would receive a life sentence.
Speaking at a press conference in Honduras, Hernandez’s wife, Ana Garcia, said her husband was innocent and called the verdict a “judicial lynching.” Garcia, who plans to run for president next year, said she looked forward to her husband’s appeal.
“Today’s events are just one chapter in a long line of misconduct,” she said.
Witnesses at the trial included traffickers who admitted responsibility for dozens of murders, and Hernandez said he was a passionate defender of some of the world’s most powerful cocaine dealers, including notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in the United States.
In his remarks, the judge noted that Guzmán had directly paid a $1 million bribe to Hernández’s brother, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, in 2013. Hernández is a former Honduran congressman who was convicted on drug charges and sentenced to life in a U.S. prison in New York in 2021.
Hernandez shook his head as Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Gutwillig told the judge he chose to “do bad things.”
“No one is above the law, not even a former president of the country,” Gutwillig said.
Hernandez was sentenced in federal court less than two blocks from where former President Donald Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11 after being convicted of falsifying business records.
During the sentencing, Judge Castells spoke at length about how Hernandez received a fair trial and described many of the key pieces of evidence that emerged to prove his guilt at trial.
Castells called the number of drug trafficking-related murders during Hernandez’s political career “staggering,” with one drug trafficking witness admitting at trial that Hernandez aided and abetted 56 murders and another saying Hernandez was involved in 78 murders before cooperating with U.S. authorities.
Hernandez noted that he only helped drug traffickers who aided his own political ambitions, and that he had not always done so.
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“No, he wasn’t smart enough to do that,” Castells said. The judge said Hernandez helped traffickers whenever he had the chance.
“His No. 1 goal was his own political survival,” Castells said.
