WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2020) A US judge has sentenced a former Guatemalan presidential candidate to 15 years in prison for conspiring to support a drug cartel's operation to import drugs into the United states , the Department of Justice said in a press release on Tuesday.
"Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that Mario Amilcar Estrada Orellana, was sentenced to 180 months in prison for participating in a conspiracy to import and distribute tons of cocaine to the United States," the release said.
Estrada had pled guilty to conspiring to aid the Sinaloa Cartel's operations to import drugs into the United States if he was elected president.
In exchange for the Sinaloa Cartel's financial support in his campaign in 2018 and 2019, Estrada agreed - if elected - to provide state-sponsored support to the cartel's drug-trafficking activities, the release said.
Estrada agreed to appoint members of the Sinaloa Cartel to high-level positions in the Guatemalan government and he would allow the cartel to use Guatemalan airports and maritime shipping locations, the release also said.
Estrada also agreed to take a portion of the profits made by the Sinaloa Cartel on any cocaine shipments that went through Guatemala under his protection, the release added.
