Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was sentenced to 45 years in prison by a U.S. judge on Wednesday for his conviction on drug and firearm offenses.
The 55-year-old ex-leader will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars unless his anticipated appeal is successful.
A Manhattan jury found Hernandez guilty in March of accepting millions of dollars in bribes to protect U.S.-bound cocaine shipments from traffickers he had publicly claimed to combat. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, while Hernandez’s defense argued for the mandatory minimum of 40 years under federal law.
U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel delivered the 45-year sentence, highlighting the need to send a message to well-educated, seemingly personable defendants who might think they are beyond prosecution. Castel remarked that jurors saw through Hernandez’s “polished demeanor” during the two-week trial, in which he testified in his own defense.
“They saw him for what he was: a two-faced politician hungry for power,” Castel said in the Manhattan federal court.
Hernandez led Honduras, a U.S. ally in Central America, from 2014 to 2022. Prosecutors accused him of facilitating shipments of at least 400 tons of cocaine to the United States, contributing to widespread addiction and violence. They also claimed Hernandez used drug money to bribe officials and manipulate votes during the 2013 and 2017 Honduran presidential elections.
“The defendant fed this never-ending cycle of drug trafficking and corruption that tore his country apart,” prosecutor Jacob Gutwillig said on Wednesday.
Hernandez denied taking bribes and asserted that he fought against cartels during his presidency. He maintained his innocence and criticised the testimonies of several convicted traffickers who claimed to have bribed him. He argued that they were trying to reduce their own sentences and seek revenge.
“Despite everything done to me, which is an outrage and a lynching, I am an optimist and I know that the truth will be known later,” Hernandez told Castel through a Spanish interpreter before being sentenced.
After receiving his sentence, Hernandez faced journalists seated in the jury box and declared “soy inocente,” Spanish for “I am innocent.” He used a cane as U.S. marshals led him out of the courtroom.
Hernandez has been held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center since his extradition from Tegucigalpa in April 2022.
