A federal jury convicted Juan Orlando Hernández, often known as JOH, 55, of Honduras, on all three counts within the indictment, which included cocaine-importation and weapons offenses. Hernández is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26.
“Juan Orlando Hernández abused his place as President of Honduras to function the nation as a narco-state the place violent drug traffickers had been allowed to function with digital impunity, and the individuals of Honduras and america had been pressured to endure the results,” stated Lawyer Basic Merrick B. Garland. “As immediately’s conviction demonstrates, the Justice Division is disrupting the complete ecosystem of drug trafficking networks that hurt the American individuals, regardless of how far or how excessive we should go.”
“When the chief of Honduras and the chief of the Sinaloa Cartel work hand-in-hand to ship lethal medication into American communities, each need to be held accountable in america,” stated Administrator Anne Milgram of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “This case ought to ship a transparent message that nobody is above the legislation or past our attain.”
“Juan Orlando Hernández had each alternative to be a power for good in his native Honduras. As an alternative, he selected to abuse his workplace and nation for his personal private achieve and partnered with among the largest and most violent drug trafficking organizations on this planet to move tons of cocaine to america,” stated U.S. Lawyer Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. “It’s my honest hope that this conviction sends a message to all corrupt politicians who would think about the same path: select in a different way. My workplace will cease at nothing to analyze and prosecute these accountable for sending poison to this neighborhood, regardless of their standing or political energy.”
In accordance with court docket paperwork, from no less than in or about 2004, as much as and together with in or about 2022, Hernández, the previous two-term president of Honduras and former president of the Honduran Nationwide Congress, was on the middle of one of many largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies on this planet. Hernández abused his place and authority in Honduras to facilitate the importation of tons of cocaine into america. In change, Hernández acquired hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in drug cash from among the largest and most violent drug-trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico, and elsewhere, and used these bribes to gas his rise in Honduran politics.
All through his time in workplace, Hernández publicly promoted laws and the efforts he presupposed to undertake in assist of anti-narcotics measures in Honduras. On the identical time, he protected and enriched the drug traffickers in his internal circle and people who supplied him with cocaine-fueled bribes that allowed him to acquire and keep in energy in Honduras. For instance, Hernández selectively upheld extraditions by utilizing his government energy to assist extraditions to america of sure drug traffickers who threatened his grip on energy, and promising drug traffickers who paid him and adopted his directions that they might stay in Honduras. As well as, Hernández and his co-conspirators abused Honduran establishments, together with the Honduran Nationwide Police and Honduran Military, to guard and develop their conspiracy. Amongst different issues, members of the conspiracy used closely armed Honduran Nationwide Law enforcement officials to guard their cocaine masses as they transited by means of Honduras. Members of the conspiracy additionally turned to violence and homicide to guard and develop their drug trafficking enterprise, attacking and murdering rival traffickers and people who threatened their grip on the Honduran cocaine commerce.
A number of of Hernández’s co-conspirators have already been convicted and sentenced in reference to this investigation. Amongst others, Hernández’s brother, Juan Antonio Hernández Alvarado, often known as Tony Hernández, was convicted after trial in October 2019 and sentenced to life in jail, and Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez, a violent cocaine trafficker who met with Hernández on a number of events to debate their drug trafficking partnership, was convicted after trial in March 2021, and sentenced to life in jail. Extra just lately, Juan Carlos Bonilla Valladares, often known as El Tigre, the previous chief of the Honduran Nationwide Police, pleaded responsible to his participation within the cocaine importation conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 25, and Mauricio Hernández Pineda, a former member of the Honduran Nationwide Police and Hernández’s cousin, pleaded responsible to his participation within the cocaine importation conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on Could 2.
In complete, Hernández and his co-conspirators trafficked over greater than 400 tons of U.S.-bound cocaine by means of Honduras throughout Hernández’s tenure within the Honduran authorities.
Hernández was convicted of three counts: (i) conspiring to import cocaine into america, which carries a compulsory minimal sentence of 10 years in jail and a most sentence of life in jail; (ii) utilizing and carrying machineguns and harmful gadgets throughout, and possessing machineguns in furtherance of, the cocaine-importation conspiracy, which carries a compulsory consecutive jail time period of 30 years; and (iii) conspiring to make use of and carry machineguns and harmful gadgets throughout, and possessing machineguns in furtherance of, the cocaine-importation conspiracy, which carries a most sentence of life in jail.
The DEA’s Particular Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit, Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Process Forces (OCDETF) New York Strike Drive, and Tegucigalpa Nation Workplace are investigating the case. The Justice Division’s Workplace of Worldwide Affairs supplied precious help in securing his arrest and extradition. The Justice Division thanked the Authorities of Honduras for extraditing Hernández to america.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacob H. Gutwillig, David J. Robles, Elinor L. Tarlow, and Kyle A. Wirshba for the Southern District of New York are prosecuting the case, with help from Paralegal Specialist Kayla A. Collins and Trial Attorneys Andrea Broach and Jessica Fender of the Nationwide Safety Division’s Counterterrorism Part.