(CMR) Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez (55) was sentenced by a US judge on Wednesday to 45 years in prison for his conviction on drug and firearm offenses.
Hernandez was extradited from Honduras after the US Department of Justice filed three drug-trafficking and firearms-related charges against him in 2022. He is convicted by a jury earlier this year on three drug trafficking charges after a two-week trial in Manhattan federal court. He denied the charges.
Prosecutors had accused him of conspiring with drug cartels during his tenure to move more than 400 tons of cocaine through Honduras toward the United States. Prosecutors said that in exchange, Hernández received millions of dollars in bribes, which he used to fuel his rise in Honduran politics.
Prosecutors also said that members of the conspiracy in which Hernández participated relied on the Honduran National Police to protect cocaine shipments as they moved through the country.
In a statement, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Hernández “abused his position as president of Honduras to operate the country as a narco-state where violent drug traffickers were allowed to operate with virtual impunity, and the people of Honduras and the United States were forced to suffer the consequences.”