TODAY NICARAGUA – Nicaraguan businessman, Henry Fariñas, convicted on drug trafficking and other crimes had his sentenced reduce from 30 to 18 years behind bars, by the Managua appeals court.
Farina , 42 , was sentenced in October 2012 to 17 years in prison for drug trafficking, 9 years for racketeering and 7 years for money laundering, for a total of 33 years, but reduced to 30, the maximum sentence in Nicaragua
Fariñas, was arrested on March 30, 2012 at the International Airport of Managua, and convicted on September 27 of that year.
Fariñas survived the attack on Argentine Singer Facundo Cabral in Guatemala, in July 2011.
Cabral was represented by Fariñas and together were heading to the Guatemala airport after a concert in that city, when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle, in an attacked allegedly ordered by Costa Rican Alejandro Jimenez , alias “El Palidejo”, in revenge for the theft of a drug shipment.
Jimenez is currently in prison in Guatemala waiting trial for the murder of Cabral. The Guatemalan justice system has yet to set a trial date.
According to the Nicaragua’s Attorney General, Fariñas and Jimenez led an international drug ring that was responsible for shipping illegal drugs to Guatemala from Costa Rica for the Colombian drug group Los Fresas, with final delivery to the Mexican drug gang Los Charros, linked to the Michoacana family criminal organization.
The existence of the criminal group in Nicaragua came to light with the assassination of Cabral, on July 9, 2011.
Nicaragua’s criminal court, in addition to Fariñas, reduced the sentences of 22 others, including two of his borthers and the former magistrate of the Consejo Supremo Electoral de Nicaragua, all accused of belonging to the criminal gang.
The Ministerio Publico also accused Fariñas of laundering over US$30 million dollars between 2005 and 2012 through the Elite nightclub (strip club) in Managua.
