Former Honduran President Sentenced to 45 Years in US for Drug Trafficking

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, 55, also known as "JOH," was sentenced today to 540 months (45 years) in prison and 60 months of supervised release for cocaine importation and related weapons offenses.

The former two-term president was in office until weeks before his extradition to the United States in April 2022. Hernández was convicted on March 8, 2024.

“As President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández abused his power to support one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world, and the people of Honduras and the United States bore the consequences,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. 

“Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández financed his political career with drug trafficking profits and abused his authority as President of Honduras to traffic hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States. Let me be clear, political actors who use their power to traffic in drugs and corruption will be brought to justice in the United States.” Said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. 

“As the former two-term president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández had every opportunity to affect positive change for his country," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. "Instead, Hernández helped to facilitate the importation of an almost unfathomable 400 tons of cocaine to this country: billions of individual doses sent to the United States with the protection and support of the former president of Honduras. Now, after years of destructive narco-trafficking of the highest imaginable magnitude, Hernández will spend 45 years where he belongs: in federal prison.”

400 Tons of Cocaine & Weapons

From about 2004 until his finally days in office before his arrest in 2022, Hernández, was at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world. During his political career, Hernández abused his powerful positions and authority in Honduras to facilitate the importation of over 400 tons of cocaine into the US.

Hernández’s co-conspirators were armed with machine guns and destructive devices, including AK-47s, AR-15s, and grenade launchers, which they used to protect their massive cocaine loads as they transited across Honduras on their way to the United States, protect the money they made from the eventual sale of this cocaine, and guard their drug-trafficking territory from rivals. 

Hernández received millions of dollars of drug money from some of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico, and elsewhere, and used those bribes to fuel his rise in Honduran politics. In turn, as Hernández rose to power in Honduras, he provided increased support and protection for 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.

During his time in office, Hernández publicly promoted legislation and the efforts he purported to undertake in support of anti-narcotics measures in Honduras. At the same time, he protected and enriched the drug traffickers in his inner circle and those who provided him with cocaine-fueled bribes that allowed him to obtain and stay in power in Honduras.

Prosecutors said the former president had worked closely with the Sinaloa Cartel. "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," DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement. "This case should send a clear message that no one is above the law or beyond our reach."

Several protests by Honduran migrants took place outside of the New York courthouse during the former President's trial.

Political Power

For example, Hernández selectively upheld extraditions by supporting and taking credit for extraditions to the United States of certain drug traffickers who threatened his grip on power, while at the same time promising drug traffickers who bribed him and followed his instructions that they would remain safe in Honduras. In addition, Hernández and his co-conspirators abused Honduran institutions, including the Honduran National Police and Honduran military, to protect and grow their conspiracy. Among other things, members of the conspiracy used heavily armed Honduran National Police officers to protect their cocaine loads as they transited through Honduras towards the United States for eventual distribution. Members of the conspiracy also turned to violence and murder to protect and grow their drug trafficking enterprise, attacking and murdering rival traffickers and those who threatened their grip on the Honduran cocaine trade.

Several of Hernández’s co-conspirators have already been convicted and sentenced in connection with this investigation. Among others, Hernández’s brother, Juan Antonio Hernández Alvarado, also known as Tony Hernández, was convicted after trial in October 2019 and sentenced to life in prison, and Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez, a violent cocaine trafficker who met with Hernández on multiple occasions to discuss their drug trafficking partnership, was convicted after trial in March 2021 and sentenced to life in prison.

Juan Carlos Bonilla Valladares, also known as "El Tigre," the former chief of the Honduran National Police, pleaded guilty to his participation in the cocaine importation conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 1, and Mauricio Hernández Pineda, a former member of the Honduran National Police and Hernández’s cousin, pleaded guilty to his participation in the cocaine importation conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 2.

In total, Hernández and his co-conspirators trafficked more than 400 tons of U.S.-bound cocaine through Honduras during Hernández’s tenure in the Honduran government.

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

Sources DOJ, AP News