By EFE
01 Aug 2024, 14:58 PM EDT
The former head of the Honduran police Juan Carlos “The Tiger” Bonilla was sentenced on Thursday to 19 years in prison in the United States on drug trafficking charges, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office for the Southern District of New York confirmed to EFE.
Federal Judge Kevin Castel, in the Southern District Court of New York, presided over the sentencing of Bonilla, 64, who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking on February 6 in the same case for which the former president of Honduras (2014-2022) was convicted, Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH).
According to Honduran media, Bonilla, for whom The prosecution requested a sentence of 30 years and his defense asked for the minimum, 10 years, he asked the judge for “mercy” for family and health reasons, and regretted his “mistake,” but the magistrate stood firm and criticized his “way of life.”
“This was much more than a mistake – it was a way of life. He had tremendous military clout, he seemed to be up to the task… There are others who will not return home to their families because of addiction. The defendant facilitated this,” Castel said, according to Inner City Press.
Bonilla, that He headed the Honduran National Police between 2012 and 2013 Under the government of Porfirio Lobo (2010-2014), he was accused in 2021 in the United States of participating in a conspiracy to import cocaine into the country and using firearms and destructive devices to do so.
A decade of violence
He was extradited to the US in 2022 to face the charges, but after signing the plea agreement in February 2024, these were reduced only to drug trafficking and he also avoided sitting as a co-defendant in the trial against former President JOH, which was held in March.
But, as the indictment described a week ago, Bonilla aligned himself with “powerful Honduran politicians,” including JOH and former congressman Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernandez, and helped them “corrupt Honduran institutions” and inflict violence on the country for a decade.
He was also accused of having committed crimes on behalf of JOH and ‘Tony’ Hernández.
JOH, to whom He was accused of using money from Mexican drug lord “El Chapo” Guzmán for committing electoral fraud in two elections in exchange for being part of a conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, was sentenced in June to 45 years in prison in the North American country.
Keep reading:
– Juan Orlando Hernández and other Latino leaders convicted in US courts.
– Judge sentences Juan Orlando Hernández, former president of Honduras, to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking.