U.S. District Choose Kevin Castel spoke of the breadth of the trafficking conspiracy earlier than he handed down the sentence.
The 400 tons of cocaine despatched to america was price “effectively over $10 billion” on the road, Castel mentioned, and two contributors who cooperated in opposition to Hernández admitted to greater than 130 murders. Whereas Hernández posed as a “champion” in opposition to narco-trafficking, the choose mentioned, he was facilitating violence, illness and habit.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of life in jail plus 30 years.
“Juan Orlando Hernández abused his energy because the president of Honduras to ship incomprehensible quantities of cocaine to america,” prosecutor Jacob Gutwillig mentioned. “He was polluting this nation with incomprehensible quantities of poison.”
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Throughout Hernández’s presidency, the U.S. authorities portrayed him as an ally in opposition to narco-trafficking and unlawful immigration. In 2015, then-Vice President Joe Biden hosted him on the White Home. In December 2019, President Donald Trump praised him for his cooperation, saying the international locations had been “stopping medication at a stage that has by no means occurred.”
However the Justice Division was investigating him as a part of a broader probe into drug trafficking allegations in opposition to the Honduran political elite. His brother, Tony Hernández, was convicted of federal drug trafficking fees in 2019 and sentenced to life in jail. Prosecutors named Juan Orlando Hernández an unindicted co-conspirator in that case.
On the request of america, Honduran police arrested Hernández inside weeks of his departure from workplace in January 2022, and he was extradited to face federal fees in New York.
His prosecution has raised questions on whether or not the U.S. authorities ignored his prison actions as they sought his assist in slowing migration towards the southwest border.
Former U.S. diplomats have denied that. They’ve mentioned the case illustrates Washington’s bureaucratic dysfunction: State Division officers had been left at nighttime in regards to the Justice Division investigation.
Hernández has denied any wrongdoing. He has accused jailed drug sellers of giving false testimony in opposition to him in alternate for decreased sentences. He’s anticipated to enchantment his conviction.
“Your honor, I reiterate that I’m harmless, that I used to be wrongly accused and convicted,” Hernandez advised Castel on Wednesday. Castel warned Hernández repeatedly to stay to the topic — his sentence — and to not attempt to re-litigate his case.
His lawyer had sought a 40-year sentence, the obligatory minimal.
“Mr. Hernández did extra to fight narcotrafficking in Honduras than any Honduran President earlier than or since,” Renato Stabile wrote to the courtroom earlier than the listening to Wednesday.
Hernández’s conservative Nationwide Social gathering assumed the presidency of the nation of 10 million in 2009 after leftist president Mel Zelaya was toppled in a coup. However the get together was weakened by corruption and drug-trafficking scandals. It misplaced the presidency in 2021 — to Zelaya’s spouse, Xiomara Castro.
