Wife of former Honduran president convicted in the US says she will seek the presidency

The former first lady of Honduras Ana García de Hernández announced that she will seek the presidential candidacy for the 2025 elections, a few days after the conviction of guilty of drug trafficking against her husband Juan Orlando Hernández in the United States.

“I want to tell you that from this moment I will begin an active and proactive fight so that the world knows the injustice that was committed, and to do so I will do so from the position of seeking a pre-candidacy, a candidacy for the National Party of Honduras for the presidency of the republic. ”García de Hernández expressed on Tuesday at a press conference with his two daughters Isabela and Daniela.

Former President Juan Orlando Hernández (2014-2022) could be sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty on Friday, March 8, in the Southern District Court of New York on charges of criminal association for drug trafficking and use and possession of weapons. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 26.

“I know what needs to be done, I know the work, I know of the dedication and struggle that my husband has had every day, and I know of the great needs that Honduras experiences, and one of the strongest is the injustice that we have just seen . That is why I ask the Honduran people for their support… that we unite for this crusade for justice,” added the former first lady.

The deputy of the ruling party Libertad y Refoundación (Libre), Marco Eliud Girón, told The Associated Press that Ana García de Hernández has the right to participate because the Constitution of Honduras allows it, but “what she does not have the right to is for the people to vote for her.”

He argued that “in marriages there is something called bedroom confessions and, in that sense, Ana de Hernández knew very well what her husband was doing in terms of his relationship with drug trafficking, just as Juan Orlando knew what his husband was doing. brother Tony Hernández.”

In the congressman's opinion, the former first lady's decision is a political strategy to somehow evade national and even foreign justice.

Girón pointed out that a commission of prosecutors who were in the trial of Juan Orlando Hernández traveled to the United States, and that this group of the Public Ministry announced that it will investigate all the people related to the former president, “and obviously she will be investigated.”

Juan Orlando Hernández is the first Honduran president extradited to the United States for drug trafficking crimes and found guilty. On February 14, 2022, the United States requested his capture for extradition purposes and days later he was detained at his residence in Tegucigalpa.

His extradition occurred in April 2022, and on February 20, 2024, his trial began, presided over by Judge Kevin Castel, in which a jury found him guilty of the three crimes with which he was charged.

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