Tony Hernández, brother of the President of Honduras, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for drug trafficking in New York

A New York court on Tuesday sentenced Tony Hernández, brother of the current President of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández to life imprisonment for drug trafficking.

The former member of the Central American country was convicted in 2019 of the four crimes he was accused of, among them, cocaine trafficking – more than 185 tons – false testimony and possession of firearms. In sentencing, Judge P. Kevin Castel said the conviction was “well deserved”.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, had demanded that this sentence be pronounced, stressing that Hernández “had not shown remorse” and was “a central figure in one of the world’s largest and most violent cocaine conspiracies”. His defense had called for the mandatory minimum sentence of 40 years.

The trial had a great media profile, especially for the repeated references to the Honduran president, who has nevertheless always denied the accusations.

President Hernández and the Honduran Presidential Chamber have used Twitter to refute the allegations on numerous occasions and held a press conference last week. Before reading the sentence, Hernández anticipated that it would be “painful” and reiterated that the accusations are lies of drug traffickers and murderers who want to reduce their sentences.. Hernández faces no charges, but has been called a “co-conspirator” in his brother’s case.

Tony Hernández operated “with impunity” thanks to the protection of his brother and contributed to the “putrefaction” of institutions in Honduras, also said the prosecution during the trial.

The President claims to have in his possession transcripts of recordings made by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2013, where the drug dealers who are accusing him today have claimed they cannot negotiate with him.

However, the allegations resurfaced in another similar process against drug trafficker Geovanny Fuentes Ramírez, whom prosecutors described as a partner of Juan Orlando Hernández. March 22 a jury unanimously decided to find him guilty of the two offenses of drug trafficking and one offense of possession of firearms for which he was charged.

The three characters, however, were linked in both court processes. Southern Manhattan District Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement that Juan Orlando Hernández tasked Fuentes Ramírez to report directly to his brother.

But it is in this latter process that the description of Hernández’s conduct goes further: he moves from being a recipient of bribes – a witness said he saw how Fuentes Ramírez gave the current president $ 25,000 in 2013 in exchange for protection – to incorporate it as an active part of the operation.

Legal documents say the two have teamed up to produce cocaine in a laboratory in Cerro Negro, Honduras, and to smuggle drugs into the United States. The witness, an accountant who laundered drug money and was presented under a false identity for security reasons, told the jury that during this meeting with Fuentes, the president said: “We will be untouchable (…) We will put the drugs in the gringos in their own noses and they will not even notice“.

The former head of the Honduran cartel Los Cachiros, Leonel Rivera, who confesses to having killed or ordered the death of 78 people and also cooperated with the prosecution, for his part testified to having paid Juan Orlando Hernández a bribe of 250,000 dollars in exchange for protection. And in the lawsuit against his brother, prosecutors claimed he also received tens of millions of other drug traffickers, including a million dollars from Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, then head of the Sinaloa cartel.

According to an investigation by the specialist site Insight Crime, the family used the funds of these activities – as well as acts of corruption in the government, including embezzlement of public funds – to finance the political campaigns that led Hernández to the presidency in 2014.

During Geovanny Fuentes’ trial, US prosecutors assured that all Honduran presidents since 2006 had received bribes from drug traffickers in exchange for protection and a promise not to be extradited.

Fabio Lobo, hijo del expresidente Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo (2010-2014) -del Partido Nacional, el mismo de los Hernández- fue condenado a 24 años de cárcel en Nueva York in 2017 por ayudar a traficar 1,4 toneladas de cocaína a United States.

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