Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez testifies during his trial on U.S. drug trafficking charges in Manhattan District Federal Court in New York City on March 6, 2024.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was convicted in New York on Friday on charges that he conspired with drug traffickers and used the military and national police forces to allow large quantities of cocaine to flow unimpeded into the United States.
After jury verdict in federal court Two weeks trialwhich is already closely watched in his home country.
Hernandez, 55, who served two terms as leader of the Central American country of about 10 million people, stood with others in the courtroom as jurors filed out of the courtroom. , he patted defense attorney Renato Stabile on the back. The verdict is read out.
When the news reached the nearly 100 Hernandez opponents on the street outside the courthouse, they clapped and began jumping into the air to celebrate the result.
The scene in the courtroom was calm and Hernandez appeared relaxed as the jury foreman announced the verdict on three counts. At times, as each juror was asked to affirm the verdict, Hernandez folded his hands in front of him or crossed one leg over the other. They all did it.
Judge P. Kevin Castel, speaking to the jury before they left the courtroom, praised the jury for reaching a unanimous verdict that was necessary for the conviction.
“We live in a country where 12 people can’t agree on pizza toppings,” the judge told them. Regardless of their verdict, he said his message would be the same. “That’s why I’m in awe of you.”
Defense attorneys and prosecutors had no immediate comment.
Hernandez was arrested at his home in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, three months after leaving office in 2022. Extradited to the United States That April.
On April 21, 2022, in Tegucigalpa, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez (centre) was extradited to the United States to face drug trafficking-related charges under police escort from the National Special Forces Administration of Honduras.
Stringer | AFP | Getty Images
U.S. prosecutors accused Hernandez of working with drug traffickers as early as 2004, saying he accepted millions of dollars in bribes as he rose from rural congressman to president of the National Assembly to the country’s top job.
Hernandez acknowledged in trial testimony that drug money was paid to nearly every political party in Honduras, but he Denies taking bribes.
He noted that he has visited the White House and met with the US president, who has cast himself as a champion of the war on drugs, working with the United States to curb the flow of drugs into the United States.
At one point, he said, the FBI warned him that a drug cartel was trying to assassinate him.
He said the accuser had fabricated the charges against him to seek leniency for his crimes.
“They all had a motive to lie, and they were professional liars,” Hernandez said.
But prosecutors scoffed at Hernandez’s apparent claim to be the only honest politician in Honduras.
During closing arguments on Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Gutwilliger told jurors that the corrupt Hernandez “paved a cocaine highway for America.”
Stabile said his client was “wrongly accused” and urged an acquittal.
Trial witnesses include traffickers who have admitted responsibility for dozens of murders and say Hernandez was a passionate protector of some of the world’s most powerful cocaine traffickers, including notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” “Joaquin Guzman, he is serving a life sentence in the United States.
Hernandez, who wore a suit throughout the trial and remained largely calm while testifying through an interpreter, repeatedly said “No, sir” when asked if he had paid bribes or promised to protect traffickers from extradition to the United States. “
His brother Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernandez is a former Honduran congressman. Sentenced to life imprisonment in 2021 Appear in Manhattan federal court for his own conviction drug charges.
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