Honduras’ erstwhile President Juan Orlando Hernández received a 45-year federal prison sentence Wednesday for multi-ton drug trafficking and related firearm offenses, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
Hernández, 55, abused his power to facilitate the importation of over 400 tons of cocaine—shipments guarded by his co-conspirators’ machine guns, AK-47s, AR-15s, and grenade launchers, among other weapons—into the U.S., according to the DOJ. The former two-term president of Honduras and former president of the Honduran National Congress, Hernández “was at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world” from around 2004 to around 2022, the DOJ added.
Hernández’s co-conspirators also used weapons to protect the proceeds of the drug trafficking and keep out rivals from their drug trafficking territory, the DOJ’s statement revealed.
Hernández reportedly rose to power on the wings of million-dollar bribes from some of the largest and most violent transnational drug cartels in Honduras, Mexico, and elsewhere. He in turn shielded his co-conspirators, “allowing them to move mountains of cocaine, commit acts of violence and murder, and help turn Honduras into one of the most dangerous countries in the world,” according to the DOJ.
Hernández, also known as JOH, reportedly weaponized his country’s extradition policies against rival traffickers. He and his co-conspirators abused Honduran institutions, using heavily armed Honduran National Police officers to protect their U.S.-bound cocaine shipments. The suspects also attacked and murdered rival drug smugglers, according to the DOJ. (RELATED: Four Hondurans Charged With Trafficking Enough Fentanyl To Kill 1.6 Million People)
Juan Orlando Hernández, Former President of Honduras, Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison for Conspiring to Distribute More Than 400 Tons of Cocaine and Related Firearms Offenses
🔗: https://t.co/B7EW7DhZIW pic.twitter.com/wiYTpTT2mQ
— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) June 26, 2024
Hernández’s co-conspirators include his brother and former Honduran congressman Juan Antonio Hernández Alvarado, also known as Tony Hernández, who was sentenced Mar. 2021 to life in prison and ordered to forfeit $138.5 million. Mauricio Hernández Pineda, the former president’s cousin who also served in the Honduran National Police, will be sentenced July 2. Juan Carlos Bonilla Valladares, also known as El Tigre, the former chief of the Honduran National Police, is expected to be sentenced Aug. 1.
The more than 400 tons of cocaine Hernández and his co-conspirators imported into the U.S. constituted at least 4.5 billion individual doses of cocaine, the DOJ said.
The U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York said Hernández “had every opportunity to affect positive change for his country” but rather opted to facilitate drug trafficking. “Now, after years of destructive narco-trafficking of the highest imaginable magnitude, Hernández will spend 45 years where he belongs: in federal prison,” the prosecutor added.
Stating that the U.S. bore the brunt of Hernández‘s acts, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland added in part, “The Justice Department will hold accountable all those who engage in violent drug trafficking, regardless of how powerful they are or what position they hold.”
Arrested Feb. 2022 in Honduras following a U.S. extradition request, Hernández was convicted Mar. 2024.
Hernández will also be under a five-year supervised release after serving his prison sentence.
