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Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez has been convicted in a New York court for involvement in cocaine trafficking to the United States.

The verdict, delivered by a jury in the Southern District Court of New York after two weeks of deliberation, found Hernandez guilty of all charges against him. These included conspiring to import cocaine into the US, using “machine guns and destructive devices” to aid cocaine shipments, and conspiring to use those weapons for his objectives, with two of the charges potentially leading to life imprisonment.

US prosecutors accused Hernandez of collaborating with major cocaine traffickers and leveraging his presidential office to safeguard drug shipments transiting through Honduras. They claimed Hernandez accepted bribes, including about $1 million from Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman, to advance his political career. Despite his denial of these allegations and attempts to portray himself as a hardline crime fighter, the evidence presented painted a different picture. Hernandez’s defense argued against the credibility of prosecution witnesses, suggesting they were motivated to lie to reduce their sentences.

The prosecution described Hernandez as exploiting state power to transform Honduras into a “cocaine superhighway” to the US, noting his tenure’s controversies, including scandals and allegations of corruption.