Honduran President Stands Trial in U.S. Drug Trafficking Case

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández in 2017.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández has been implicated in a U.S. drug trafficking trial against Honduran drug trafficker, Geovanny Fuentes Ramírez. Officials arrested Fuentes Ramírez on charges of drug trafficking and arms possessions in March 2020 on his way out of Miami. The indictment, which labeled Hernández as a co-conspirator, alleges that Hernández used Honduran armed forces to provide protection for drug traffickers, including Fuentes Ramírez. The trial began on March 8 and will take place in the Southern District of New York.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) began investigating Hernández’s involvement in drug trafficking and money laundering in 2013, the same year that he won the presidency. According to assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Gutwillig, meetings between Hernández and Fuentes Ramírez took place between 2013 and 2014. 

An accountant, referred to as José Sánchez in court documents, was present at the meetings between Hernández and Fuentes Ramírez. According to court documents, Sánchez alleges that Hernández said he wanted to “shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.”

Hernández, however, has presented himself as being tough on drugs, having taken credit for the extradition of drug traffickers to the U.S. and having broken up crime cartels in Honduras. Hernández refutes the allegations of his involvement in this case and on February 8, tweeting, “I will maintain the international alliance in the fight against drug trafficking until the final day of my presidency. But if drug traffickers… win benefits from the United States for false testimony, the international alliance will collapse in Honduras and then in other countries.”

Hernández’s involvement in this trial could prove detrimental to his reelection campaign, with Honduran presidential primaries set for late March. Hernández stood as an important ally for the U.S. during the Obama and Trump administrations, but this trial may damage Honduran and Central American relations with the country. 

In February, Democratic senators in the U.S. introduced legislation to Congress that would impose sanctions on Hernández due to his alleged involvement in drug trafficking and corruption. The bill also calls for the halting of ammunition sales to Honduran security forces. Hernández’s involvement may complicate the Biden administration’s plan to invest $4 billion in Central American countries, including Honduras, in efforts to address the ongoing migration crisis in Central America.