Former Honduran president found guilty in drug trafficking trial
CNN
Former President of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández was found guilty Friday of drug trafficking by an American jury after a two-week trial in Manhattan federal court.
Former President of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández was found guilty Friday of drug trafficking by an American jury after a two-week trial in Manhattan federal court. Prosecutors had accused Hernández, 55, of conspiring with drug cartels during his tenure as they moved more than 400 tons of cocaine through Honduras toward the United States. In exchange, prosecutors said, Hernández received millions of dollars in bribes that he used to fuel his rise in Honduran politics. Hernández was president of Honduras from 2014 until 2022. He was extradited to the United States in 2022 after the completion of his second term in office on charges of conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, conspiracy to possess firearms and destructive devices for drug trafficking, and possession of this type of weapon during the drug trafficking conspiracy. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for each of the charges. During his years in office, Hernández “protected and enriched the drug traffickers in his inner circle,” the Justice Department said, citing his use of executive power to support extraditions of certain drug traffickers to the US “who threatened his grip on power” while “promising drug traffickers who paid him and followed his instructions that they would remain in Honduras.” Prosecutors also said that members of the conspiracy Hernández participated in relied on the Honduran National Police to protect cocaine loads as they moved through the country.
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