The brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was arrested by federal authorities in Miami on Friday for allegedly conspiring to import multi-ton quantities of cocaine into the U.S.
The Department of Justice said in a statement on Monday that former Honduran congressman Juan Antonio Hernandez Alvarado, 40, was charged with four counts in a Manhattan federal court:
(1) conspiring to import cocaine into the United States
(2) using and carrying machine guns and destructive devices during, and possessing machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of, the cocaine-importation conspiracy
(3) conspiring to use and carry machine guns and destructive devices during, and to possess machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of, the cocaine-importation conspiracy
4) making false statements to federal agents
“As alleged, former Honduran congressman Tony Hernandez was involved in all stages of the trafficking through Honduras of multi-ton loads of cocaine that were destined for the U.S.,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said. “Hernandez allegedly arranged machine gun-toting security for cocaine shipments, bribed law enforcement officials for sensitive information to protect drug shipments, and solicited large bribes from major drug traffickers.”
A superseding indictment unsealed in federal court stated the activities that Hernandez was allegedly involved in:
From at least in or about 2004, up to and including in or about 2016, multiple drug-trafficking organizations in Honduras and elsewhere worked together, and with support from certain prominent public and private individuals, including Honduran politicians and law enforcement officials, to receive multi-ton loads of cocaine sent to Honduras from, among other places, Colombia via air and maritime routes, and to transport the drugs westward in Honduras toward the border with Guatemala and eventually to the United States. For protection from official interference, and in order to facilitate the safe passage through Honduras of multi-hundred-kilogram loads of cocaine, drug traffickers paid bribes to public officials, including certain members of the National Congress of Honduras.
“Drug trafficking and corruption around the world threatens the rule of law, fuels violence and instability, and harms innocent families and communities,” Special Agent in Charge Raymond Donovan said. “Hernandez and his criminal associates allegedly conspired with some of the world’s most deadly and dangerous transnational criminal networks in Mexico and Colombia to flood American streets with deadly drugs. DEA looks forward to Hernandez facing American justice and answering for his alleged crimes.”
If convicted, the DOJ reports that Hernandez faces a “mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum term of life in prison on Count One, a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum term of life in prison on Count Two, a maximum term of life in prison on Count Three, and a maximum term of five years in prison on Count Four.”
“This is a heavy blow for the whole family,” Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez told reporters, according to Reuters. “I hope the justice system gives him the room to defend himself, and as a family, we will do what we can to support him.”
Reuters notes that Honduras’ president is a conservative lawyer who “has reined in homicides with a tough policy against drug cartels and street gangs that has been supported by the United States.”