The United States accused the former president of Honduras on Thursday John Orlando Hernandez of operating his country as a “narco-state” and of using bribes he received from drug traffickers such as “El Chapo” to commit electoral fraud in the two elections he ran for.
A few hours after Hernández took off for New York to be tried there, the US Department of Justice published the full indictment against the former president, three charges that could lead to a maximum sentence of life in prison.
“Hernández abused his position as president of Honduras between 2014 and 2022 to operate the country as a narco-state,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference in Washington.
The 20-page indictment alleges that Hernández was part of a conspiracy that since 2004 transported more than 500 tons of cocaine to the United States through Honduras, coming from Colombia, Venezuela and other countries.
As part of that conspiracy, Hernández received “millions of dollars from multiple organizations drug traffickers in Honduras, Mexico and elsewhere,” the indictment states.
“Hernández used those profits from drug trafficking to enrich himself, finance his political campaigns and commit electoral fraud, including in relation to the 2013 and 2017 presidential elections,” it adds.
Specifically, the United States alleges that in 2013, Hernández received a “million dollar bribe of the Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, then leader of the Sinaloa cartel, “in exchange for a promise to protect” that cartel in Honduras.
“Hernández then ordered his allies in the conspiracy to travel to various parts of Honduras to bribe officials to manipulate votes so that he would become president,” said the attorney for the southern district of New York, Damian. Williams.
As a result of his dealings with drug traffickers, the former president “corrupted the legitimate institutions of Honduras, including parts of the Honduran National Police, the Armed Forces and the National Congress”, and turned his country into “one of the largest shipping points for cocaine to the US. in the world,” the document states.
Williams alleged that, during a meeting, Hernandez stated that he wanted to “fill of drugs the noses of the gringos”, and who also accepted bribes from drug traffickers and “bought votes” to obtain re-election in the controversial 2017 elections.
The 53-year-old former president will make his initial appearance this Friday before Judge Stewart D. Aaron in New York, and it remains to be seen what sentence the Prosecutor’s Office will request against him, but the Department of Justice already announced this Thursday the sentences associated with the charges with which he is accused.
For the first charge Hernández faces, that of “conspiracy to import” more than 500 tons of cocaine into the United States, the minimum sentence is 10 years and the maximum is life in prison, if convicted.
For the second, use and own machine guns and destructive devices to support the importation of cocaine, you can receive a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of life in prison; and for the third, “conspiring to use” the aforementioned weapons, the maximum is also to spend life in prison.
It will be a federal judge who determines the sentence if Hernandez is found guilty by a juryrecalled the Department of Justice.
In March, a judge from the same court where Hernández will be tried sentenced the former president’s younger brother, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, to life in prison plus 30 years in prison, for the same drug trafficking conspiracy with which the former president is now accused.