Honduran Drug Trafficker Linked to Pres. Hernandez Convicted in U.S.

By Mary Anne Webber First Posted: Mar 23, 2021 06:09 AM EDT

A Honduran drug trafficker was convicted of drug trafficking in the United States on Monday. Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez was accused of criminal dealings with Honduras' President Juan Orlando Hernandez and other high-ranking officials.

A New York jury found Ramirez guilty on three counts of drug trafficking and related weapons charges. Ramirez was arrested in Miami in March last year. He reportedly smuggled drugs such as cocaine into the U.S. with the help of Hernandez, who has been the Honduran president since 2014, Reuters reported.

"Juan Orlando Hernandez didn't just want the defendant's cash, he wanted access to the defendant's cocaine," assistant U.S. attorney Michael Lockard said in the report. Lockard was referring to a cocaine lab Ramirez was said to have control in Honduras.

Allegations Against Honduran President Hernandez

Ramirez pleaded not guilty on the charges against him when his trial started. Hernandez was cited frequently during the trial.

Some witnesses also mentioned the Honduran president during the drug-trafficking trial of his brother, Juan Antonio "Tony" Hernandez.

Tony, a former Honduran congressman, was convicted for running a state-sponsored drug trafficking conspiracy with his brother in October 2019. He allegedly participated in a conspiracy to smuggle cocaine to the U.S. that involved machineguns' use.

U.S. prosecutors claimed that Hernandez had accepted bribes from Ramírez and other drug traffickers, which he has repeatedly denied.

Hernandez was a major ally of the United States, particularly under the Obama and Trump administrations. The case is seen to affect future relations and the new Biden administration's efforts to invest $4 billion in Central America to address the root of migration influx.

Former leader of the Cachiros cartel, Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, testified during the trial that he had sent $250,000 to Hernandez in 2012 through his sister, ABC News Go reported. This was in exchange for the protection of Maradiaga's smuggling business and to avoid extradition.

An accountant also witnessed Hernandez accepting bribes twice from Ramirez in 2013. The witness worked in a rice company, where the meetings between Hernandez and Ramirez happened, Aljazeera reported.

Eric Olson, director of policy at the Seattle International Foundation, said that the verdict would greatly affect the people of Honduras than the president.

"The Honduran people become more skeptical, more pessimistic, more hopeless about their future in their country when they look at their political leaders as corrupt officials," Olson said in the report.

Hernandez was a lawyer who took office in January 2014. He is currently in his second term, and he proclaimed himself as a champion in the fight against illegal drugs.

Problems in Honduras

Aside from the huge and rampant drug trade, the country also faces violence, with having the highest murder rate in the world, according to a Forbes report.

Eighty-seven per 100,000 people were said to have been murdered in 2011. It was seven times higher than the U.S. rate despite the rate being dropped about in half.

Extreme poverty is also being experienced in the country, with about 60 percent of the nation living on less than $2 per day. The World Bank's threshold for extreme poverty was at $1.90.

Food insecurity and lack of clean water are also among the many things the people of Honduras are facing.

WATCH: Honduran President Denies Drug Trafficking Charges by US Prosecutors - From Al Jazeera English