Ex-Honduran president sentenced to 45 years for helping traffickers get tons of cocaine into U.S.
NBCJul 01
Ex-Honduran President Given 45 Years in US Prison
Above: November 1, 2021: Then-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández presents his national statement during day two of the UN's 26th Climate Change Conference. Image copyright: Pool/Pool/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
Former Honduran Pres. Juan Orlando Hernández was sentenced to 45 years in prison by a US federal court following his conviction in March of conspiring to bring cocaine into the US and possessing weapons such as machine guns.
The former president, who has maintained his innocence and claims he was "wrongly and unjustly accused," was also fined $8M.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Hernández abused his power to support one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world, so thankfully, justice has finally been served. Besides helping facilitate this criminal enterprise, he used the money from trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine to the US to fund his political career. In return, he provided political protection to some very violent and murderous gangs, turning Honduras into one of the world's most dangerous countries.
Establishment-critical narrative
Beginning with the US-backed coup in 2009, the US government cultivated Hernández's political career and then used him as its puppet for almost a decade. Washington put Hernández in power to ensure US economic and military policies remained intact, which meant they turned a blind eye to the corrupt side of his administration. Once Hernández was no longer in power, Washington pretended to be the good guy and prosecuted the man it had been controlling for years.