A former Guatemalan congressman was sentenced in the U.S. to 18 years in federal prison last week after pleading guilty to being involved in an international drug trafficking conspiracy, the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. Jose Armando Ubico Aguilar, 45, was sentenced Feb. 11 by U.S. District Judge Michael Truncale in Plano, a suburb of Dallas, federal prosecutors said in a news release. Acting U.S. Attorney Abe McGlothin Jr. of the Eastern District of Texas said in the news release that Ubico Aguilar had “brokered and facilitated” shipments of cocaine into the U.S. A federal grand jury indicted Ubico Aguilar in March 2021 on charges of federal drug trafficking violations, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said that Ubico Aguilar arrived in the U.S. in May 2024 and pleaded guilty, admitting that he relayed drug-related information and U.S. currency to another Guatemalan official on behalf of an international drug trafficker. Prosecutors said his actions resulted in the safe passage of at least 450 kilograms (992 pounds) of cocaine through Guatemala for distribution in the U.S. The sentencing "sends a message to Transnational Criminal Organizations across the world that they will be held responsible for the poison they distribute into the United States,” said Dallas DEA Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez, according to the DOJ press release. “This sentence reflects our continued resolve to partner with our international law-enforcement counterparts to fight greed, violence, and public corruption.”
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