Former Honduras first lady Ana Garcia de Hernandez announces run for presidency just days after her husband's drug trafficking conviction in U.S.

Former Honduras first lady Ana García de Hernández announced she will seek the presidency just days after her husband, President Juan Orlando Hernández, was convicted on drug trafficking charges by a United States court.

President Hernández was convicted for conspiring with drug traffickers to smuggle tons of cocaine to the United States in a federal court in New York last Friday.

'I want to tell you that as of this moment I will begin an active and proactive fight so that the world knows the injustice that was committed,' García de Hernández said Tuesday.

García de Hernández, who was accompanied by the couple's daughters, Ana and Isabela, said that she will be running the National Party ticket in the 2025 elections.

'I know what has to be done, I know the job,' the 55-year-old lawyer said. 'I recognize the dedication and fight my husband has had every day and I know Honduras' great needs, and one of the greatest is the injustice we've just seen.'

Honduras former first lady, Ana García de Hernández, revealed Tuesday that she will seek the presidency in 2025. Her announcement came four days after her husband, President Juan Orlando Hernández, was convicted on drug trafficking and firearm charges by a federal court in New York

President Juan Orlando Hernández is looking at a possible life sentence following his conviction on drug trafficking and firearm charges in New York last week.

Hernández was found guilty of conspiring to import cocaine to the United States, using and carrying machine guns in furtherance of conspiring to import cocaine and conspiring to use machine guns to further that conspiracy.

The U.S. Justice Department said during that trial that from about 2004 to 2022, the former president abused his authority by accepting millions of dollars in bribes from drug traffickers to allow them to transport cocaine to the United States. In return, the two-term president used the cash to fuel his political ambitions in the Central American country. 

In return, the two-term president used the cash to fuel his political ambitions in the Central American country.

During 2019 the trial of his former Congressman brother, Juan Antonio Hernández, a key government witness testified before the New York court that Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán had contributed $1 million ahead of Juan Orlando Hernández's 2013 presidential campaign in exchange for protection.

The future president sent his brother and an associate - who has not been identified - with machine guns to collect El Chapo's payment.

Juan Antonio Hernández was found guilty by a federal court in New York on drug trafficking and firearm charges in October 2019 and sentenced to life in prison in March 2021.

'I want to tell you that as of this moment I will begin an active and proactive fight so that the world knows the injustice that was committed,' García de Hernández said Tuesday.

President Hernández was found guilty of conspiring to import cocaine to the United States, using and carrying machine guns in furtherance of conspiring to import cocaine and conspiring to use machine guns to further that conspiracy 

President Hernández was arrested at the family residence in Tegucigalpa, Honduras' capital, in February 2022, just three months after leaving office. He extradited to the United States in 2022 in April of that year.

He is looking at the possibility of life in prison and is planning on filing an appeal, according to his lawyer, Renato Stabile.

Marco Eliud Girón, a lawmaker from the ruling LIBRE party, said that García de Hernández could run, but asserted that she surely knew of her husband´s ties to drug traffickers.

He suggested her entry into politics had more to do with reducing her own legal exposure.