It is not true that my husband is negotiating: Ana García
Ana García reported that Hernández's defense attorney, Renato Stabile, is preparing an appeal document to challenge the trial against JOH
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Former Honduran First Lady Ana Garcia has categorically rejected claims that her husband, former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, allegedly negotiated with the U.S. Attorney General’s Office to reduce his 45-year prison sentence for drug trafficking.
“I completely deny it. It is not true that my husband is negotiating. He remains firm in his convictions,” García said.
The clarification by the National Party candidate comes after statements by former Public Prosecutor Nilia Ramos, who said that Hernández was trying to reduce his sentence by 10 years by becoming a collaborator of the US government.
Ramos said the former president was already cooperating with the justice system and had begun to receive benefits, including visas for his wife and daughters to visit Hernández, who is being held at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center.
García denied this claim, explaining that she had managed the process of obtaining the visa herself, and that it was not the result of any negotiation. “It is a right of all those deprived of liberty,” she said.
Garcia also said Hernandez’s defense attorney, Renato Stabile, is preparing an appeal document to challenge the trial in which the former president was found guilty of conspiring to import cocaine into the U.S.
Who is Juan Orlando Hernandez?
Juan Orlando Hernández, better known as JOH, was president of Honduras between 2014 and 2022, in two consecutive terms.
He was extradited to the United States on April 20, 2022, and found guilty by a jury on drug trafficking charges on March 8, 2024.
The United States has prosecuted Hernandez for using his public office to support drug trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico and elsewhere.
Hernández was sentenced on June 26 to 45 years in prison and five years of probation for three drug-related crimes. However, the defense appealed the conviction.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed three charges against the former Honduran president: conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, conspiracy to possess firearms and destructive devices for drug trafficking, and possession of such weapons during the drug trafficking conspiracy.
