Juan Orlando Hernández claims he was “wrongly accused” during sentencing hearing on drug and weapons charges.
Juan Orlando Hernándezthe former president of Honduras, once considered an important anti-crime ally of the United States, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for his drug and arms trafficking conviction.
In March, a Manhattan jury convicted Hernandez, 55, of accepting millions of dollars in bribes to protect U.S.-bound cocaine shipments from traffickers he had publicly proclaimed to fight.
U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel handed down the sentence Wednesday in a Manhattan courtroom.
“I am innocent,” Hernández, 55, who led the Central American nation from 2014 to 2022, said during his sentencing. “I have been wrongly and unfairly accused.”
Hondurans at home and abroad welcomed the conviction, celebrating it as a rare case to be held accountable for corruption and deceit committed by a member of the country’s ruling class.
In March, the jury concluded that the former executive, often known by his initials JOH, accepted millions of dollars in bribes to protect large shipments of cocaine bound for the United States.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, saying it would send a strong message to other politicians who use their power to protect powerful criminal groups.
“Without corrupt politicians like the defendant, the type of large-scale international drug trafficking at issue in this case, and the widespread drug-related violence that ensues, is difficult, if not impossible,” prosecutors wrote Monday.
During a two-week trial, prosecutors said Hernandez used drug money to bribe officials and manipulate voting results in Honduras’ 2013 and 2017 presidential elections. Several convicted traffickers said they bribed Hernandez.
Testifying in his own defense, Hernández denied receiving bribes from drug cartels.
His lawyers, meanwhile, accused the convicted traffickers of seeking revenge for Hernández’s anti-drug policies.
JOH’s brother, Tony Hernandez, was sentenced to life in prison in the United States in 2021 for drug trafficking.
