Source:
Getty
Images
/
Getty
The
former
president
of
Honduras
was
convicted
in
a
federal
court
of
trafficking
tons
of
cocaine
into
the
United
States
and
aiding
local
cartels.
On
Friday
(March
8),
a
Federal
District
jury
in
New
York
City
found
former
Honduran
president
Juan
Orlando
Hernández
guilty
of
conspiracy
to
import
cocaine,
illegally
using
and
carrying
machine
guns,
and
possessing
machine
guns
as
part
of
a
“cocaine-importation
conspiracy.”
Also
known
as
JOH,
the
55-year-old
Hernández
was
charged
with
smuggling
over
500
tons
of
cocaine
into
the
United
States
from
Colombia
and
Venezuela
via
Honduras
since
2004,
before
his
ascension
to
the
presidency.
“He
paved
a
cocaine
super-highway
to
the
United
States,”
said
federal
prosecutors
during
the
trial,
stating
that
he
worked
with
the
infamous
Sinaloa
drug
cartel
headed
by
Joaquin
“El
Chapo”
Guzman
and
enriched
himself
as
the
country
sank
into
high
levels
of
corruption
and
poverty.
Hernández
had
portrayed
himself
as
a
“law
and
order”
candidate
with
the
right-wing
Honduras
National
Party
in
2013
on
his
way
to
his
first
term
as
president.
His
vows
to
crack
down
on
traffickers
and
crime
received
praise
from
the
Trump
administration,
but
prosecutors
aided
by
a
slew
of
witnesses
testified
about
how
much
he
was
allied
with
the
cartels
in
the
country
as
well
as
Mexico
and
other
countries
who
paid
him
millions.
The
disgraced
politician
once
said
he’d
“stuff
the
drugs
right
up
the
noses
of
the
gringos,”
according
to
witnesses,
“and
they
won’t
even
notice.”
It’s
the
first
such
prosecution
of
a
foreign
politician
since
the
prosecutions
of
former
Panamanian
General
Manuel
Noriega
in
1992
and
Guatemala’s
Alfonso
Portillo
in
2014
and
comes
three
years
after
the
conviction
of
his
brother,
Juan
Antonio
on
similar
charges.
Witnesses
for
the
prosecution
included
Devis
Leonel
Rivera,
head
of
the
powerful
Los
Cachiros
cartel;
Fabio
Lobo,
the
son
of
former
president
Porfirio
Lobo
(2010-2014)
and
Alexander
Ardon,
a
member
of
Hernández’s
former
party.
Rivera,
who
admitted
to
being
involved
in
78
murders
including
that
of
two
American
journalists,
testified
that
he
personally
bribed
Hernandez
with
$250,000.
“They
should
have
tried
to
catch
us,”
he
said
on
the
stand,
saying
that
instead
“they
allied
with
us.”Outside
of
the
courthouse,
many
celebrated
the
verdict
with
signs
in
Spanish
reading,
“No
clemency
for
narcopolitics.”
Hernández
is
scheduled
to
be
sentenced
on
June
26
and
faces
life
in
prison.
