Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández sentenced to 45 years in prison in the United States for cocaine trafficking

A New York court on Wednesday sentenced former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández to 45 years in prison after being convicted of trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States.

Anti-Hernández protesters gathered outside the Manhattan courthouse before the sentencing, holding signs denouncing the former head of state's crimes.

The sentence, which also included an $8 million fine, was less than the life sentence prosecutors sought — even though Hernández's age, 55, means he could die behind bars.

Judge P. Kevin Castel said the sentence should serve as a warning to “well-educated and well-dressed” individuals who rise to power and believe their status shields them from justice when they do wrong.

But Hernández remained defiant. “I am innocent,” he said through an interpreter at his sentencing. “I have been wrongly and unfairly accused.”

In a long, impromptu statement interrupted several times by the judge, who reminded Hernández that it was not the time to restart the trial, the former leader presented himself as a hero of the anti-drug trafficking movement that joined forces with American authorities within three years. administrations to reduce imports of medicines.

But the judge said the trial evidence proved otherwise and that Hernández used “considerable acting skills” to make it appear as if he was an advocate in the fight against drug trafficking while deploying the police and army of his country, when necessary, to protect drug trafficking.

Hernandez, who US federal prosecutors said turned his Central American country into a “narco-state” during his 2014-2022 presidency, previously indicated through his legal team that he would appeal his conviction.

Hernández was convicted in March of facilitating the smuggling of some 500 tons of cocaine – mainly from Colombia and Venezuela – into the United States via Honduras since 2004, well before his presidency.

Hernández used drug money to enrich himself and finance his political campaign, and to commit voter fraud in the 2013 and 2017 presidential elections, prosecutors said.

He was extradited to the United States in 2022, accused of aiding drug traffickers in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes.

“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 these bribes to fuel his rise in Honduran politics,” federal prosecutors previously said.

Hernández follows in the footsteps of other former Latin American heads of state convicted in the United States, such as that of Panama. Manuel Noriega in 1992 and Alfonso Portillo of Guatemala in 2014.

Prosecutors said the former president worked closely with the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent criminal organizations in Mexico. Its founder, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmánis serving a life sentence in the United States.

“When the leader of Honduras and the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel work hand in hand to send deadly drugs into American communities, both deserve to be held accountable in the United States,” said the administrator. DEA, Anne Milgram, in a press release. “This case should send a clear message that no one is above the law or beyond our reach.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.