[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 51 (Friday, March 20, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1450-S1451]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4725. Mr. WELCH submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill S. 1383, to establish the Veterans Advisory Committee 
on Equal Access, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on 
the table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. ___. CONDEMNING THE PARDON OF FORMER HONDURAN PRESIDENT 
                   JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
       (1) According to court documents, beginning at least as 
     early as 2004, and continuing through 2022, Juan Orlando 
     Hernandez, the former president of the Honduran National 
     Congress and former two-term President of Honduras, was at 
     the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-
     trafficking conspiracies in the world.
       (2) During his political career, President Hernandez abused 
     his positions and authority in Honduras to facilitate the 
     importation of over 400 tons of cocaine into the United 
     States, enough for approximately 4,500,000,000 individual 
     doses.
       (3) President Hernandez's co-conspirators were armed with 
     machine guns and other weapons, including AK-47s, AR-15s, and 
     grenade launchers, which they used to protect their cocaine 
     shipments as they transited across Honduras on route to the 
     United States, protect the money they made from the sale of 
     the cocaine, and guard their drug-trafficking territory from 
     rivals.
       (4) President Hernandez and his co-conspirators abused 
     Honduran institutions, including the Honduran National Police 
     and

[[Page S1451]]

     the Honduran military, to protect and grow their conspiracy, 
     using heavily armed Honduran National Police officers to 
     protect their cocaine shipments as they transited across 
     Honduras.
       (5) President Hernandez received millions of dollars of 
     drug money from some of the largest and most violent drug-
     trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico, and elsewhere, 
     and used those bribes to fuel his rise in Honduran politics, 
     including a $1,000,000 bribe from El Chapo, one of the 
     world's most notorious drug kingpins.
       (6) As President Hernandez rose to power in Honduras, he 
     provided increased support and protection for his co-
     conspirators, allowing them to move tons of cocaine, commit 
     acts of violence and murder, and turn Honduras into one of 
     the most dangerous countries in the world.
       (7) During his time in office, President Hernandez 
     protected and enriched the drug traffickers in his inner 
     circle and those who provided him with cocaine-fueled bribes 
     that allowed him to obtain and stay in power.
       (8) President Hernandez selectively supported and took 
     credit for extraditions to the United States of certain drug 
     traffickers who threatened his grip on power, while at the 
     same time promising drug traffickers who bribed him and 
     followed his instructions that they would remain safe in 
     Honduras.
       (9) The threat of being extradited to the United States 
     made drug traffickers eager to bribe anyone who could protect 
     them, and according to Federal prosecutors, they came to know 
     they could rely on President Hernandez.
       (10) President Hernandez directed the Honduran National 
     Police and military to protect smugglers who paid him off and 
     he promised to shield them from extradition to the United 
     States, reportedly telling one cocaine trafficker that ``by 
     the time the gringos find out, we will have eliminated 
     extradition.''.
       (11) President Hernandez reportedly boasted, ``We are going 
     to stuff the drugs up the gringos' noses, and they're never 
     even going to know it.''.
       (12) Several of President Hernandez's co-conspirators were 
     convicted and sentenced to prison in the United States, 
     including the following:
       (A) President Hernandez's brother, Juan Antonio Hernandez 
     Alvarado, also known as ``Tony Hernandez'', who was convicted 
     and sentenced to life in prison.
       (B) Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez, a violent cocaine trafficker 
     who met with President Hernandez multiple times to discuss 
     their drug trafficking partnership and who was convicted and 
     sentenced to life in prison.
       (C) Juan Carlos Bonilla Valladares, also known as ``El 
     Tigre'', the former chief of the Honduran National Police, 
     who pleaded guilty to his participation in the cocaine 
     importation conspiracy and was sentenced to 19 years in 
     prison.
       (13) President Hernandez was convicted of drug trafficking 
     and weapons conspiracy after a jury trial that lasted nearly 
     3 weeks, and sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined 
     $8,000,000.
       (14) President Hernandez claimed that he was the victim of 
     ``political persecution'', but no credible evidence to 
     support that claim has been presented.
       (15) President Hernandez's conviction and sentence were 
     upheld on appeal.
       (16) President Donald J. Trump's pardon of Juan Orlando 
     Hernandez is an affront to the Federal law enforcement and 
     judicial officials who investigated and prosecuted him and to 
     the jurors who performed their civil duty in convicting him, 
     weakens the rule of law, and severely harms the credibility 
     of the United States in combating drug trafficking in this 
     hemisphere and beyond.
       (b) Condemning Pardon.--Congress condemns the pardon to 
     convicted cocaine kingpin Juan Orlando Hernandez.
                                 ______