Jury convicts former Honduran president of drug trafficking

A federal jury in New York on Friday found Juan Orlando Hernández guilty on all three charges in an indictment leveled against him in 2022. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland celebrated the conviction, saying in a statement that Hernández “abused his position” as president to turn Honduras into a “narco-state.” He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26.

What exactly was he accused of? The first charge against him alleged that he had participated in a conspiracy to traffic cocaine into the United States. The other two charges accused him of using and conspiring to purchase machine guns in the furtherance of that objective.

What actions were those charges applied to? The Justice Department said that Hernández had worked with the Sinaloa Cartel and other international drug trafficking organizations, protecting them from arrest and investigation. He was also convicted of using money he received from those organizations to enrich himself, fund his political campaigns, and bankroll voter fraud operations.

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno’s report in The Stew about the recent impeachment of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the drug trafficking and immigration crisis at the United States’ southern border.