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Congressional Daily Record
This section is about changes proposed to a bill or resolution. It mentions members such as Peter Welch.
Issued
March 20, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextSA 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
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.